This genus is known from Europe, Africa and North America deposits, but only from isolated teeth and vertebral centra. Some of the relevant published records include:

  • Münster in Agassiz (1843:272, pl. 36, fig. 32) erected Otodus semiplicatus (Fig. below).
  • Dixon (1850:357, pl. 31, fig. 13) erected Oxyrhina crassidens for teeth from the Upper Cretaceous of England.
  • Leidy (1873:305, pl. 18, figs. 26-28) erected Otodus divaricatus for a specimen from the Cretaceous of Texas (Fig. below).
  • Williston (1900: 37-38, pl VI fig 1-lb). Based on "the authority of Cope" Williston reported this tooth-deign from Kansas as Lamna sulcata GEINITZ 1843 and synonymized O. divaricatus.
  • Sokolov, M. (1965) erected the genus Cretodus.
  • Cappetta & Case (1975:23-24, pl 3, fig 1-9) described Plicatolamna borodini for teeth from the Mt. Laurel Fm. (Late Campanian), of New Jersey.
  • Cappetta (1987:98) accepted Cretodus as the genus and includes C. semiplicatus, crassidens and borodini.
  • Welton & Farish (1993) included from Texas: C. semiplicatus (p 100) from the Cenomanuian and C. crassidens (pp 98-99, including an artificial tooth-set) from the Turonian-Coniacian.
  • Williamson et al (1993:453) included C. semiplicatus in the Cenomanian-Turonian of Arizona.
  • Cappetta & Case (1999:21) reported from Texas: C. semiplicatus (Albian, Upper Cenomanian and C. crassidens (Turonian).
  • Schwimmwer et al (2002) synonymized crassidens with semiplicatus.
  • Case & Cappetta (2004) reassign Cretodus borodini to Protolamna CAPPETTA 1980.
  • Cappetta (2006: 57, 206) included crassidens and semiplicatus as distinct species; and included borodini in Protolamna.
  • Underwood et al. (2011: 548) in reporting on the Cenomanian of India included Cretodus as "Family incertae sedis".
  • Hamm & Cicimurri (2011: 117) included Cretodus crassidens in the Atco Formation (Early Coniacian) of Texas and include the family as uncertain.

    Schwimmer et al (2002) make some good points when it relates to teeth from the Interior Seaway -- the two 'tooth-designs' could certainly represent chrono- or morpho-species. I find it problematic that these two widely distributed taxa are synonymized based on a few teeth from a single location; particularly when not contrasted directly with material from the type locales. By retaining crassidens on the website, elasmo.com is taking the position that the arguments of a single dentition-design have not been sufficiently well argued (although it might be correct for the NA material).

    The teeth have bilobate roots with a U-shaped basal margin and lingual protuberance. Some teeth show evidence of a very weak nutrient groove. The cusp is triangular & elongated but never particularly broad. The cutting edge is complete, and in most species the shoulders bear divergent triangular cusplets and the crown bear folds (wrinkles).

    Selected References

    Agassiz, L., 1833-1845. Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles, 5 volumes, and atlas 5 volumes, Imprimerie Petitpierre, Neuchatel, France, 1420 pp.
    Cappetta, H., 1980c. Modification du statut générique de quelques espèces de sélaciens crétacés et tertiaires. Paleovertebrata, 10, (1). pp 29-42.
    Cappetta, H., 1987. Chondrichthyes II. Mesozoic and Cenozoic Elasmobranchii. In: Handbook of Paleoichthyologie, vol. 3b, Gustav Fischer Verleg, Stuttgart, 193 pp.
    Cappetta, H., 2006. Elasmobranchii post-Triadici (index generum et specierum). In: Riegraf, W. (Ed) Fossilium Catalogus I:Animalia 142. Leiden, Backhuys Publish, 472pp.
    Cappetta, H. & Case, G., 1975. Contribution à l'étude des sélaciens du groupe Monmouth (Campanien - Maestrichtian) du New Jersey. Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 151:1-46.
    Case, G., and Cappetta, H., 2004. Additions to the elasmobranch fauna from the Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey (Middle Maastrichtian, Navesink Formation). Palaeovertebrata 33.
    Case, G., and Schwimmer, D., 1988. Late Cretaceous fish from the Blufftown Formation (Campanian) in western Georgia. Journal of Paleontology 62:290-301.
    Dixon, F. 1850. The geology and fossils of the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations of Sussex. London, 422 pp.
    Geinitz, H., 1843. Die Versteinerungen von Kieslingwalda und Nachtrag zur Charakteristik des sachsischbo¨hmischen Kreidegeberges. Dresden and Leipzig, 23 pp.
    Hamm, S.A. and D.J. Cicimurri, 2011. Early Coniacian (Late Cretaceous) selachian fauna from the basal Atco Formation, Lower Austin Group, north central Texas; Paludicola [Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology] 8(3):107-127.
    Lauginiger, E., and Hartstein, E.. 1983. A guide to fossil sharks, skates and rays, from the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal area, Delaware. Delaware Geological Survey Open File Report 21, 643 pp
    Leidy, J., 1873. Contributions to the Extinct Vertaebrate Fauna of the Western Territories, I. Report of U.S.G.S. for 1867.
    Schwimmeri, D., Hooks, G. and Johnson, B., 2002. Revised taxonomy, age, and geographic range of the large lamniform shark Cretodus semiplicatus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):704-707.
    Sokolov, M. 1965. Teeth evolution of some genera of Cretaceous sharks and reconstruction of their dentition. Moskovkoe Obshchestvo Ispytatelie Prirody, Biulleten Otodel Geologicheskii 40:133-134.
    Underwood, C.J., A. Goswami, G. V. R. Prasad, O. Verma, and J. J. Flynn. 2011. Marine vertebrates from the ‘middle’ Cretaceous (early Cenomanian) of South India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 31(3):539-552.
    Welton, B. and Farish, R., 1993. The Collector's Guide to Fossil Sharks and Rays from the Cretaceous of Texas. Before Time, Texas. 204 pp.
    Williamson, T., J. Kirkland and S. Lucas, 1993. Selachians from the Greenhorn cyclothem ("Middle" Cretaceous: Cenomanian-Turonian), Black Mesa, Arizona, and the paleogeographic distribution of Late Cretaceous selachians. Journal of Paleontology 67(3), pp 447-474.
    Williston, S., 1900. Some fish teeth from the Kansas Cretaceous. Kansas University Quarterly 9(1): 27-42, pl. VI-XIV.

     

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