Megalodon not as big as we once thought!

[BorneanTiger]

(09-15-2020, 09:11 PM)GuateGojira Wrote:

(09-15-2020, 08:51 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: Though they are different, the teeth of the great white look more similar to those of C. / O. subauriculatus (chubutensis) than to those of these mako sharks (genus Isurus), and the teeth of the latter look more similar to those of a number of megatooths shown here, even though both the great white and mako are mackerel sharks (order Lamniformes) which are outside the genus Otodus, and the others are megatooths which are supposed to be in the same genus as Megalodon, that is Otodus (or formerly Carcharocles), and consensuses change over time, like about how ape-like or human-like Lucy the australopithecine was.

The jaws of a shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) from the Northern Atlantic, by Didier Descouens (8th of March, 2012):

*This image is copyright of its original author

The jaws of a longfin mako (Isurus paucus) from the Greater Caribbean, by D. Ross Robertson of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute: https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/caribbean/e.../specie/52

*This image is copyright of its original author

That is oversimplification, is like to say that a puma is related to the tiger jus for been "cats". Sharks are not that simple, and the while superficially the tooth of the megalodon looks like the one of the white shark, they had important differences in the form and function, in fact it seems that the white shark ancestors player a role in the extinction of the megalodon. Definitelly they do not belong to the same species and when you see something that "likes like", you most take in count the convergent evolution too. Under your understanding, Cretaxirina is also related with the white shark just because they had afinities, but it is not. There were several species of mega-toother sharks and the white shark is not one of them.

Of course, aside from the issue of convergent evolution giving different species similar physical characteristics. Reply