Striatolamia macrota

Shark tooth
Taxon: Striatolamia macrota (Agassiz)
Locality: Clifton Beach, Charles County, MD
Age: Paleocene
Rock unit: Aquia Formation
Collector: W. Itano

This tooth comes from a position in the jaw which is less anterior than the other Striatolamia macrota shown on this website. The root is less symmetrical and forms an obtuse rather than an acute angle. Note the striations on the surface of the tooth (hence the name) and the weak side cusps. The classification of teeth of this type has a very complex history, which I don't claim to understand. As a result, you may find references that call the genus of this tooth Odontaspis, Carcharias, or Scapanorhynchus. To add to the confusion, teeth from the same shark, but from different parts of the jaw have different shapes and were sometimes described as different species. The height of the tooth is 2.2 cm.


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Last modified: December 31, 1998. Send comments to webmaster@itano.net