#squalodon

The high seas!

A fossilized tooth, possibly a squalodontid or Squalodon sp. from the Bone Valley Member, Peace River Formation in the phosphate mines of Florida, United States. These oddly toothed cetaceans are also known as shark-toothed dolphins. The identification of these basal looking cetacean teeth can be tricky due to a number of taxa with similar looking teeth.

A extinct genus of whales of the Oligocene and Miocene epochs, belonging to the family Squalodontidae.

Here is my second Mermay piece because I also knew I wanted to do an ancient whale because of the Ancient Whale Week all the paleoartists threw a bit back. So here is a Squalodon mermaid! She is beeg. 

Segment of the lower jaw of a “Shark toothed dolphin”.

Squalodon, a genus of toothed whale somewhat related to modern dolphins though not through direct ancestry.  Apparently they had some weird ass teeth.  From the Oligocene through the Miocene.

One of the first fossils described in scientific literature is that of a specimen of Squalodon (Fordyce, R.E.). Fossils of this genus are identified mainly by the teeth but several different species have been named based on skull characteristics and size (the biggest being S. whitmorei). Most of the fossil record consists of teeth. These odontocete fossils have been discovered in Europe, eastern North America, New Zealand, and Argentina. Because isolated teeth are insufficient for species identification, most specimens lacking the skull can only be identified to genus (Dooley,A.). The fossils of squalodontids indicate that this species is more closely related to endangered species of dolphins and not to most of the living dolphins today (Fordyce, R.E.). The classification of this genus is not clear. A book by Charles Darwin states that "....Squalodon, which have been placed by some naturalists in an order by themselves, are considered......to be undoubtedly cetaceans..." (Darwin, C.) Many of the fresh-water dolphins are differentiated phylogenetically very well, while the argument of some of the species has been going on for more than a century. The taxon is characterized during the Oligocene and Miocene in which heterodont teeth are standard amongst the family. Some modern features of the scapula, however, contradict with current phylogenetic relationships. Squalodontids were believed to be the last common ancestor of the odontocetes until 1984. Muizon came to the conclusion that rather than to any of the living species this family is closer related to the endangered species. Therefore, the ancestry of today's dolphins has little to do with the squalodontids (Fordyce, R.E.).

Their skulls possessed signs of the first development of echolocation.