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Otodus angustidens

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Otodus angustidens

Otodus angustidens is an extinct species of prehistoric megatoothed sharks in the genus Otodus, which lived during the Late Eocene and Miocene epochs about 34 to 21 million years ago. The largest individuals were about 11–12 metres (36–39 ft) long. This shark is related to another extinct megatoothed shark, the famous Otodus megalodon.

The Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz, first identified this shark as a species of genus Carcharodon in 1843.

In 1964, shark expert, L. S. Glikman recognized the transition of Otodus obliquus to C. auriculatus and moved C. angustidens to genus Otodus. (See "external links" below)

However, in 1987, shark expert H. Cappetta recognized the C. auriculatus - C. megalodon lineage and placed all related megatooth sharks along with this species in the genus Carcharocles. The complete Otodus obliquus to C. megalodon transition then became clear and has since gained the acceptance of many other experts with the passage of time. Within the Carcharocles lineage, C. angustidens is the species succeeding C. sokolovi and is followed by C. chubutensis.

In 2001, a discovery of the best preserved Carcharocles angustidens specimen to date by two scientists, Michael D. Gottfried and Ewan Fordyce, has been presented by the team as evidence for close morphological ties with the extant great white shark, and the team argued that Carcharocles angustidens, along with all other related megatooth sharks, including Carcharocles megalodon, should be assigned to Carcharodon as was done before by Louis Agassiz., although this is not internationally accepted by the scientific community.

A more recent study of the taxonomic relationships of the related Megalolamna demonstrates the possibility that Otodus needs to include the species sometimes assigned to Carcharocles (i.e., the megatoothed lineage, including megalodon) in order to be monophyletic.

Like other known megatooth sharks, the fossils of O. angustidens indicate that it was considerably larger than the extant great white shark, with the largest individuals possibly measuring up to 11–12 metres (36–39 ft) long. A well preserved specimen from New Zealand is estimated at 9.3 m (31 ft) in length. This specimen had teeth measuring up to 9.87 cm (3.89 in) in diagonal length, and vertebral centra around 1.10 cm (0.43 in) in diameter. Smaller individuals were about 6–6.6 metres (20–22 ft) long, still larger than the average extant great white shark.

The dental formula for O. angustidens is 2.1.5.43.0.6.3

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