Hubbell's White Shark Tooth

Taxonomy

Transitional White Shark

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Lamnidae
Genus: Carcharodon
Species: Carcharodon hubbelli
Author Citation Ehret et al., 2012

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Cenozoic
Period: Neogene
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Miocene

Stratigraphy

Bahía Inglesa Formation

Provenance

Acquired by: Purchase/Trade

Dimensions

Height: 1 3/4 "

Location

Caldera Basin
Provincia de Copiapó
Chile

• carcharodon
• carcharodon hubbelli
• chile
• hubbell white shark
• m(bi)ch1
• white shark

Comments

Identification

Teeth of C. hubbelli are morphological intermediates between C. hastalis and the extant species C. carcharias. They all possess erect triangular cusps, no nutrient groove, and a thin to no lingual dental band ("bourlette"). C. hubbelli exhibits transitional serrations which are finer/weaker than those of the extant species, and diminish in size apically.¹ This feature may be confounded with the same pattern in nascent C. carcharias.²

C. hubbelli may be confused with C. subserratus (escheri), however they can be easily distinguished by their geographic distributions. C. hubbelli is exclusively found in the Pacific, while C. subserratus (escheri) is only found in the Northern Atlantic and Mediterranean.¹

References

1. Ehret, D.J., Macfadden, B.J., Jones, D.S., DeVries, T.J., Foster, D.A. and Salas-Gismondi, R. (2012), Origin of the white shark Carcharodon (Lamniformes: Lamnidae) based on recalibration of the Upper Neogene Pisco Formation of Peru. Palaeontology, 55: 1139-1153. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01201.x

2. Hubbell G. (1996), Using tooth structure to determine the evolutionary history of the white shark. In: Klimley AP, Ainley DG, editors. Great White Sharks: The Biology of Carcharodon carcharias. San Diego: Academic Press. pp 9–18.