Description

Late Oligocene

Chandler Bridge Formation

Summerville, SC, USA

23mm tooth

Mammal, Whale.

Squalodon is a genus of whale of the Oligocene to Miocene.  It is known primarily from North America and Europe.  The term “squalodont” is used for remains similar to those of Squalodon or in reference to proposed relatives.

The squalodont whales of the Oligocene and Miocene were fully-aquatic yet primitive because they still had heterodont teeth reminiscent of their land-based Eocene ancestors.  Their teeth still had the general form of incisors/canines and premolars/molars but were following a trend toward homodonty (teeth of the same shape along the jaws) as seen in modern toothed whales (odontocetes).  They died out by the end of the Miocene.