Description

Late Oligocene

Chandler Bridge Formation

Summerville, SC, USA

17mm tooth.

Mammal, Whale.

The squalodont whales of the Oligocene and Miocene were primitive in that they still had teeth in the general form of incisors/canines and premolars/molars but were following a trend toward homodonty as seen in modern odontocetes.  These whales belong to various genera but their teeth are too similar in their range of variation to tell apart so they tend to get a general label of “squalodont” or they are identified as “Squalodon” from which the term comes.  Squalodont whales died out by the end of the Miocene.