Synonomy of Some Megatooth Sharks

Richard Hulbert (Ed.) in his THE FOSSIL VERTEBRATES OF FLORIDA (2001) sums up the situation with megatooth sharks as well as anyone. He points to research that says that the type specimen originally labeled as Carcharodon auriculatus is actually another species, C. subauriculatus.

Depending on which authors you go with, C. subauriculatus is synonymous with C. angustidens or C. sokolowi. Hulbert favors sokolowi, following Case and Cappetta (1990).

Sooo . . . Florida auriculatus teeth apparently are something else, but it is not certain yet (2001) which is the correct species name under the Rules of Nomenclature, pending more study of morphology. And, I wouldn't be surprised if some other reorganization appears. There are eleven mega anna between the Oligocene Chandler Bridge Fm and the Late Eocene Crystal River Fm (Ocala Group).

If you wish to adopt the Hulbert-Case-Cappetta species name, Carcharodon sokolowi, I believe that it is acceptably pronounced SO-KO-LAW-VAYE, recognizing a Russian taxonomist named Sokolov.

("Mega anna" = one million years before present; also "Ma")