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It took nearly 40 old age , but researchers have eventually collected enough fossil teeth in Alabama to decent identify a antecedently nameless species of ancient shark — one that was a potential ancestor ofmegalodon , the large shark to ever subsist .
The newly identified mega - toothed shark live about 83 million yr ago , during the dinosaur years . Its largest tooth let on so far measures about 1 column inch ( 2.7 centimeters ) long , which is considerably smaller than the 7 - inch - foresighted ( 17.7 cm ) teeth disport by megalodon ( Carcharocles megalodon ) , the researchers suppose in a Modern study .
The Bryant Shark’s teeth are about 1 inch tall, while the great white shark (represented by the jaw) has teeth approaching 3 inches.
" Over time , the sharks in the megalodon stemma acquire [ tooth ] serrations , lose their cusplets ( the niggling ' fang ' on the English of the main cusp ) and grow to enormous sizes , " say subject area lead research worker Jun Ebersole , director of collections at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham , Alabama . The newfound shark is an early member of this family , so its teeth are small and unserrated , with up to two pairs of cusplets , he said . [ Aahhhhh ! 5 Scary Shark Myths Busted ]
researcher plant 33 teeth from theCretaceous periodshark from nine different sites in primal Alabama over a period of 38 years , Ebersole said . He and his colleague make the speciesCretalamna bryanti , or the " Bryant Shark " for short , in honor of the belated University of Alabama football coach Paul " Bear " Bryant and his family .
It ’s incredible that until now , C. bryantiwas " overlooked , not make out or misidentified by previous scientists as other shark species , " Ebersole said in a program line . The uncovering shows that mega - toothed shark had more diversity than previously realized during the dinosaur historic period , he noted .
The Bryant Shark teeth are tiny compared to a giant megalodon tooth.
The Bryant Shark ’s family , the otodontids , evolved more than 100 million years ago , but are now out . The family ’s largest member , the60 - ft - long ( 18 meters ) megalodon , lived during the Miocene and Pliocene , epochs that hold up from 23 million to 2.6 million days ago , Ebersole said .
Given thatC. bryanti’steeth had similar chompers to other mega - toothed sharks that survive the nonavian dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago , it ’s possible thatC. bryantiwas part of the filiation that lead to megalodon , Ebersole order .
He added that it ’s unmanageable to calculate the length ofC. bryantibased on its teeth alone . However , the shark ’s pennant teeth are similar to a those of amako shark , even though the two species are not related . " Thus , using late makos as a modernistic parallel , the Bryant Shark may have reached lengths of up to 15 animal foot [ 4.5 m ] , " Ebersole tell Live Science .
The Bryant Shark teeth are different sizes, but the largest one is 1 inch (2.7 centimeters) tall. Notice the small cusplets on the sides of the teeth.
The public will soon be capable to see a handful ofC. bryanti’steeth on showing in the fossil hall at McWane Science Center . The study was published online today ( Jan. 8) in the journalPeerJ.
Original clause onLive skill .
