Description

Middle Miocene

Round Mountain Silt, Sharktooth Hill Bonebed

Ernst Ranch, Bakersfield, Kern County, CA, USA

24mm shark tooth

Shark Lamnidae.

This shark species was once assigned to the mako genus, Isurus, but recent studies concluded that it is actually the direct ancestor of the great white shark (C. carcharias) and should be placed in the same genus.  Isurus and Carcharodon both belong to the Family Lamnidae.

This shark existed across the Miocene and into the Early Pliocene.  Size estimates put in the range of (or somewhat larger than) the modern great white shark with the largest individuals reaching perhaps 20-25 feet.

This tooth is a lower lateral.