Otodus obliquus tooth

Scientific name: Otodus obliquus
  • Updated
    06/05/22
  • Read time
    2 minutes
Otodus obliquus tooth Click to enlarge image
An Otodus obliquus tooth found by Callan Thrupp on the beach at Noosa Heads, North shore of Noosa, between Noosa and Fraser Island, Queensland. O. Obliques is an extinct mackerel shark (family Lamnidae) that is believed to have grown to about 9 m in length. The species lived during the Paleocene–Eocene about 60 to 37.5 million years ago. O. obliquus likely preyed upon marine mammals, large bony fish, and other sharks. Further information. Link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otodus. Thank you to Dr Mikael Siversson, Paleontology Curator, Western Australian Museum, for identifying the tooth. Image: Mark McGrouther
© Australian Museum

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Genus
    Otodus
    Species
    obliquus
Otodus obliquus tooth

The posterior (back) surface of an Otodus obliquus tooth found by Callan Thrupp on the beach at Noosa Heads, north shore of Noosa, between Noosa and Fraser Island, Queensland. The tooth was brought to search & discover for identification in February 2012.

One of the distinctive features of O. obliquus teeth are the large lateral cusplets. In the image, one broken lateral cusplet (looks like a flattened brown tooth) is visible immediately below (to the left) of the base of the main tooth. The other lateral cusplet, on the other side of the tooth, is missing.

Image: Mark McGrouther
© Australian Museum

The anterior (front) side of an Otodus obliquus tooth found by Callan Thrupp on the beach at Noosa Heads, north shore of Noosa, between Noosa and Fraser Island, Queensland. The tooth was brought to search & discover for identification in February 2012.

Notes

O. Obliquus is an extinct mackerel shark (family Lamnidae) that is believed to have grown to about 9 m in length. The species lived during Paleocene–Eocene times, about 60 to 37.5 million years ago. O. obliquus likely preyed upon marine mammals, large bony fish, and other sharks.

Thank you to Dr Mikael Siversson, Paleontology Curator, Western Australian Museum, for identifying the tooth.

Otodus obliquus tooth

A side view of an Otodus obliquus tooth found by Callan Thrupp on the beach at Noosa Heads, north shore of Noosa, between Noosa and Fraser Island, Queensland. The tooth was brought to search & discover for identification in February 2012.

Image: Mark McGrouther
© Australian Museum