''Palaeocarcharodon'', also known as the pygmy white shark, is a genus of

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

within the family

Otodontidae Otodontidae is an extinct family of sharks belonging to the order Lamniformes. Its members have been described as megatoothed sharks. They lived from the Early Cretaceous to the Pliocene, and included genera such as '' Carcharocles'' and '' Otod ...

that lived about 61.7 to 55.8 Ma during the

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

. It currently contains a sole species ''P. orientalis''.

Description

Teeth of ''Palaeocarcharodon'' are triangular, labio-lingually compressed, with quite irregular serrations and serrate lateral cusplets. They can reach a size of about .G. R. Case. - Palaeocarcharodon Orientalis (SINZOW) (Neoselachii: Cretoxyrhinidae), from the Paleocene of Maryland - Lab. de Paléontologie des Vertébrés, 1989 File:Palaeocarcharodon orientalis 1.jpg, Tooth of ''Palaeocarcharodon'' from Atlas mountain in Morocco. 60 mya, long 3 cm.

References

Otodontidae Prehistoric fish of Africa Prehistoric fish of Asia Prehistoric fish of North America Fossils of the United States Paleocene sharks {{paleo-shark-stub