SCIENTISTS have unearthed the first well-preserved fossils of an ancient shark relative, which now prove it is a prehistoric predator unlike any other.
For decades, the extinct Ptychodus perplexed scientists with very few remains, but its surprising remains were found in the Lagerstätte fossil beds in Vallecillo, Mexico.
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Ptychodus was once 32 feet long and had teeth 22 inches long and 18 inches wide, so it could eat hard-shelled marine life like turtles.
Their teeth also included plates so they could crush prey, which is very different from modern sharks.
The enormous shark relative lived during the Cretaceous period, which occurred between 145 and 66 million years ago, and was alive when dinosaurs existed.
Scientists were able to determine from the fossils that Ptychodus is a type of shark in the Lamniforme family.
This makes Ptychodus a relative of great white sharks.
The findings were published in the journal The Royal Society and the research was led by Romain Vullo of the French National Center for Scientific Research.
“Newly discovered fossils in Mexico indicate that Ptychodus resembled the living porbeagle shark,” Vullo said. counted Live Science.
He added that Ptychodus has a “unique grinding dentition.”
“The discovery of complete specimens of Ptychodus is truly exciting because it solves one of the most enduring puzzles in vertebrate paleontology,” said Vullo.
Vullo explained that the fossils were exquisitely preserved because they were formed in an area where no scavengers were able to destroy the remains.
“The animal carcasses were quickly buried in lime mud before being completely disarticulated,” Vullo said.
TURTLE GOBBLER
The discovery of Ptychodus was surprising to the team of paleontologists and proved that its species was dominant at the time it was alive.
“Our results support the view that lamniforms were ecomorphologically highly diverse and represented the dominant group of sharks in Cretaceous marine ecosystems,” the paper stated.
The ancient relative of the great white shark fed mainly on other giant marine species, making it a beast of its time.
It is believed that their main dishes included large ammonites, a type of hard-shelled crustacean, and hard-shelled sea turtles.
Great White Sharks – the facts
Here’s what you need to know…
- The great white shark is a species of large mackerel shark
- They are typically found in the coastal surface waters of all major oceans.
- Great whites are famous for their size
- Females are larger than males, growing up to 6.1 meters, or 20 feet, in length
- At full maturity, a great white shark can weigh up to 1,905 kg, or 4,200 pounds
- A 2014 study revealed that the lifespan of a great white shark is estimated to be 70 years or more
- Great white sharks can swim at speeds exceeding 56 km/h or 35 mph
- And they can swim to depths of 1,200 m, or 3,900 feet
- Experts believe that great whites have no natural predators, except the killer whale in very rare cases.
- Great whites became part of the popular imagination after the 1974 novel Jaws and Steven Spielberg’s subsequent film adaptation.
- Humans are not natural prey for great white sharks, but they are responsible for the largest number of unprovoked shark attacks on humans
“Ptychodus may have fed predominantly on hard-shelled nektonic prey such as ammonites and sea turtles rather than benthic invertebrates, the paper said.
However, the extinction of Ptychodus may have been caused by competition with other large marine life that sought the same prey.
This includes large marine reptiles that were emerging at the time.
“Towards the end of the Cretaceous, these large sharks were probably in direct competition with some marine reptiles (mosasaurs) that targeted the same prey,” Vullo said, according to Live Science.
The article explained that “their extinction during Campania, well before the late Cretaceous crisis, may have been related to competition with the emerging blunt-toothed globidensine and prognathodontine mosasaurs.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
