Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution.

ABSTRACT: Lamniform sharks are amongst the largest-bodied extant fishes and have an evolutionary history spanning ~135 million years (Ma). Fossils correlate their initial development of mega-body size ( ≥ 6 m) with ecological radiation as marine top-predators during the later part of the mid-Cretaceous (after the late Albian, ~100 Ma). Here, we push back this earliest appearance of gigantic lamniforms by ~15 Ma (upper Aptian, ~115 Ma) with the discovery of enormous cardabiodontid shark remains from northern Australia. We compiled a comprehensive dataset of vertebral centrum diameters versus maximum body length measurements for living lamniforms to calculate length and mass estimates of extinct taxa using both intraspecific and interspecific regression models. Our results show that mega-body size is

SUBMITTER: Bazzi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12553789 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature