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Fossil shark tooth: C. megalodon
Carcharodon megalodon
35.3411, -76.8238
Field Notes
Description:
Carcharodon megalodon fossil shark tooth collected at the Texasgulf Aurora Phosphate Mine, Aurora, North Carolina USA. (Lingual side, shown facing up; labial side, facing down.) C. megalodon, commonly considered to be the ancient ancestor of the modern Great White shark (Carcharodon carcharias), is more likely the ancestor of the modern Mako shark (Isurus sp.).
Habitat:
A relatively "shallow" sea that existed along the east coast of the United States an estimated 10- to 15 million years ago, during the Miocene Epoch. Related Resource: Miocene Marine Life http://paleobiology.si.edu/geotime/main/htmlversion/miocene3.html
Notes:
There is some scholarly debate regarding the evolutionary lineages of modern Mako- and Great White sharks. One school of thought contends that Carcharodon sp. should be renamed Carcharocles sp., e.g., Carcharocles megalodon. For more information, see "Carcharodon versus Carcharocles: What's in a Name?" http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/evolution/carcharodon_vs_carch…
The Aurora Phosphate Mine, formerly owned by Texasgulf Inc., is currently owned and operated by Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PotashCorp). Related Resource: http://www.potashcorp.com/about/facilities/phosphate/aurora/
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