Otodontidae Explained

Otodontidae is an extinct family of sharks belonging to the order Lamniformes. Its members have been described as megatoothed sharks.^{[1] [2]} They lived from the Early Cretaceous to the Pliocene, and included genera such as Otodus, including the giant megalodon.^[3] Recent studies of the newly described genus Megalolamna indicate that the members of the genus Carcharocles should be reclassified as members of the genus Otodus.^[4] The genus Cretalamna which lived from the mid-Cretaceous-Paleogene is believed to be directly ancestral to Otodus, and thus to megalodon.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Mega-toothed Shark. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. 2019-09-21.
2. Web site: Extinct Megatoothed Shark May Have Been Warm-Blooded. Cartier. Kimberly M.S.. 2018-12-11. Eos. 2019-09-21.
3. Book: Joseph S. Nelson . 2006 . Fishes of the World . 4th . . 978-0-471-25031-9 . Order Lamniformes . 57–60 . https://books.google.com/books?id=-bO-2unzU-8C&pg=PA57.
4. http://phys.org/news/2016-10-large-prehistoric-shark.html Large prehistoric shark
5. Jun A. Ebersole. Dana J. Ehret. 2018. A new species of Cretalamna sensu stricto (Lamniformes, Otodontidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian) of Alabama, USA. PeerJ. 6. e4229. e4229. 10.7717/peerj.4229. 5764036. 29333348 . free .