Description

Squalodon sp.
Whale
Late Oligocene
Chandler Bridge Formation
Summerville, North Carolina, USA

31″ extinct “shark toothed whale” skull with almost no restoration. Teeth are half original, half cast. Beautiful specimen.

Squalodont. Cetacean. Cete.

Squalodon is a genus of medium-sized 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 group was an offshoot of earlier whales – separate from the lineages leading to modern forms

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 as seen in modern toothed whales (odontocetes). They died out by the end of the Miocene without leaving descendants. By then, the ancestors of modern whales were present.

Oligocene whale skulls are rarely on the market. Great for the advanced mammal collector.