Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
322 / Mesozoic
Ptychodus
Ptychodus mortoni
Broad crushing teeth paved its mouth for ammonites and shellfish.
View original image · 1536 × 1024- Time range
- About 100–85 million years ago
- Final stage
- Late Cretaceous
- Geographic range
- Warm shelf seas · North America
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Ptychodus?
Ptychodus (Ptychodus mortoni) was an extinct organism known from About 100–85 million years ago, with a range in Warm shelf seas · North America.
Life and ecology
This large shark-like fish searched shallow bottoms for hard-shelled prey.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Ptychodus disappear?
Its record ends before the end of the Cretaceous; changing prey communities and competition are possible context, not a demonstrated cause.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Ptychodus?
Tooth plates, jaw cartilage and rare associated skeletons reveal its bite.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS