Description

Late Miocene/Early Pliocene

Bahia Inglesa Formation

Atacama Desert, Chile

0.5 inch tooth.

Shark.

Teeth of the shark genus Carcharhinus can be very difficult to narrow down to species because the teeth can overlap in morphology even in particular details.  Studies of modern jaws have helped but they also show that teeth are not foolproof ways of distinguishing species.

This one may be an upper C. galapagensis tooth.