Megalodon Shark Coprolite Replica

Description

Megalodon Shark Coprolite Replica measures 4.5×6.5 inches. Megalodon Shark Coprolite Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in the USA.

Megalodon or Otodus megalodon, meaning “big tooth”, is an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago, during the Early Miocene to the Pliocene.

The Megalodon or Carcharocles megalodon was formerly thought to be a member of the family Lamnidae, and a close relative of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).

Presently there is near unanimous consensus that Megalodon or Otodus megalodon belongs to the extinct family Otodontidae, which diverged from the ancestry of the great white shark during the Early Cretaceous.

Its genus placement is still debated, authors placing it in either Carcharocles, Megaselachus, or Procarcharodon. This is because transitional fossils have been found showing that Megalodon is the final chronospecies of a lineage of giant sharks originally of the genus Otodus which evolved during the Paleocene.

While regarded as one of the largest and most powerful predators to have ever lived, Megalodon or Otodus megalodon is known from fragmentary remains, and its appearance and maximum size are uncertain.

Scientists differ on whether it would have more closely resembled a stockier version of the great white shark, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) or the sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus).

Megalodon or Otodus megalodon probably had a major impact on the structure of marine communities. The fossil record indicates that it had a cosmopolitan distribution. It probably targeted large prey, such as whales, seals and sea turtles.

Juveniles inhabited warm coastal waters and fed on fish and small whales. Unlike the great white, which attacks prey from the soft underside, megalodon probably used its strong jaws to break through the chest cavity and puncture the heart and lungs of its prey.

Scientific classification:

• Domain: Eukaryota
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Chondrichthyes
• Subclass: Elasmobranchii
• Subdivision: Selachimorpha
• Order: Lamniformes
• Family: †Otodontidae
• Genus: †Otodus
• Species: †O. megalodon
• Binomial name: †Otodus megalodon
• Temporal range: Early Miocene–Early Pliocene
• Conservation status: Extinct

The megalodon shark coprolite replica offers trace fossil evidence of ancient dietary habits, which can be studied alongside the larger predatory features of a diplomystus dentatus fish plaque replica.

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