Alopias grandis Temporal range: [1]
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Fossilized tooth | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Chondrichthyes |
Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
Subdivision: | Selachimorpha |
Order: | Lamniformes |
Family: | Alopiidae |
Genus: | Alopias |
Species: | A. grandis
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Binomial name | |
Alopias grandis Leriche, 1942
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Synonyms[2] | |
Alopecias grandis |
Alopias grandis is a species of giant thresher shark from the Miocene. Estimates calculated from teeth comparisons suggest the living animal was comparable in size to the extant great white shark.[3] Remains generally consist of teeth, which have been found in the United States in the Calvert Formation of Virginia and Maryland,[4] and in Beaufort County, South Carolina.[3] They have also been found in the Miocene of Malta.[5] It is unlikely it possessed the elongated tail lobe of modern thresher sharks.[3] Some specimens in the Burdigalian show the beginnings of serrations, which are presumably transitional individuals between A. grandis and A. palatasi.[5]