Named By: | Glikman in 1958 |
Time Period: | Barremian - Miocene [1] |
Location: | Fossils are literally known in age appropriate marine deposits worldwide |
Size: | Average length seems to have been anywhere between 2 to 3 meters, though rare examples indicate an upper size approaching 3.6 meters long |
Diet: | Carnivore/Piscivore |
Fossil(s): | Mostly teeth and vertebrae |
Classification: | | Chordata | Chondrichthyes | Elasmobranchii | Selachimorpha | Lamniformes | |
Also known as: | | Lamna appendiculata | Lamna appendiculatus | Otodus appendiculatus | |
Cretolamna is a genus of extinct mackerel shark that belonged to the family Otodontidae.
These sharks lived from the Barremian of the Cretaceous period to the Mid Miocene epoch, approximately from 130.0 to 13.65 million years ago. It is considered by many to be the ancestor of many of the famous shark genera, such as the mako, great white, Angustidens, and Megalodon sharks.