Carcharodon hastalis : Mexico

SKU
MX301
Out of stock
$45.00
Overview

A TOP QUALITY"White" (Mako) shark tooth with an excellent creamy white colored crown from Baja, Mexico. Great color. The root is very well preserved with a nice creamy white color. Very clean crown. Excellent overall preservation. This is a middle Miocene tooth from the Rosarita Beach Fm. A fantastic top quality "White" (Mako) tooth from a rare locality. No repair or restoration. Authenticity guaranteed. 

MX301      SIZE: 1"

Posting 19 species (68 rare shark teeth) from Baja, Mexico.   Link to Mexican shark teeth -> Mexico shark teeth

This catalog contains exceptional teeth from the big-tooth Mako shark - Carcarodon (Isurus) hastalisThe upper jaw teeth are noted for their well defined triangular crown and broad roots (upper jaw) while the lower jaw teeth exhibit  slender crowns - all  without serrations. Complete lower jaw teeth are hard to find since they are much more fragile. Miocene age (15 million years ago). These teeth are from a very old collection of rare Baja, Mexico shark teeth.

What’s in a name? For the fifty years, Isurus hastalis was known to me and others as the Big-tooth Mako shark tooth that collectors sought from Miocene – Pliocene deposits. Everyone wanted to find a big Mako tooth. In 2001, Purdy (Smithsonsian) resurrected Isurus xiphodon for the broad-form Mako teeth at Lee Creek. It made sense, but now it is not considered a valid species. In 1964, Glikman proposed the Cosmopolitodus genus for the "hastalis" shark as Isurus hastalis was related to the Great White shark rather than the Mako. This convention was not adopted in the scientific community until the last decade; particularly with the naming of the Carcharodon hubbelli, the Great White transition tooth (late Miocene). There is also a push to rename the genus of the shark formerly known as Isurus hastalis to Carcharodon hastalis recognizing that it is an early form of the Great White shark. Ok, Isurus hastalis and Isurus xiphodon names going away, but the future genus name for "hastlis" appears to be unsettled. What do we call this shark if it is not a Mako? More to come in my Blog article.

Note - The Florida Museum has a good & short discussion regarding the origin and use of the Carcharodon genus for species that were previously named Isurus (Mako). There link follows.

Florida Museum - Carcharodon discussion