Otodontidae is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

family of sharks belonging to the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Lamniformes The Lamniformes (, from Greek ''lamna'' "fish of prey") are an order (biology), order of sharks commonly known as mackerel sharks (which may also refer specifically to the family Lamnidae). It includes some of the most familiar species of sharks, ...

. Its members have been described as megatoothed sharks. They lived from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

to the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Carcharocles ''Otodus'' is an extinct genus of mackerel shark which lived from the Paleocene to the Pliocene epoch. The name ''Otodus'' comes from Ancient Greek (, meaning "ear") and (, meaning "tooth") – thus, "ear-shaped tooth". Anatomy This shark is k ...

'' and '' Otodus,'' including the giant

megalodon Megalodon (''Otodus megalodon''), meaning "big tooth", is an extinct species of mackerel shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (Mya), from the Early Miocene to the Pliocene epochs. It was formerly thought to be a member ...

. Recent studies of the newly described genus ''

Megalolamna ''Megalolamna'' is an extinct genus of lamniform shark that belongs to the family Otodontidae. Its name comes from the similarity of its teeth to those of the extant shark genus ''Lamna.'' It is known from the early Miocene Chilcatay Formation ...

'' indicate that the members of the genus ''Carcharocles'' should be reclassified as members of the genus ''Otodus''.Large prehistoric shark
/ref> The genus ''

Cretalamna ''Cretalamna'' is a genus of extinct otodontid shark that lived from the latest Early Cretaceous to Eocene epoch (about 103 to 46 million years ago). It is considered by many to be the ancestor of the largest sharks to have ever lived, ''Otodus ...

'' which lived from the mid-Cretaceous-Paleogene is believed to be directly ancestral to ''Otodus,'' and thus to megalodon.

References

Shark families Albian first appearances Pliocene extinctions {{paleo-shark-stub