Body-size trends of the extinct giant shark Carcharocles megalodon : a deep-time perspective on marine apex predators

Paleobiology
Catalina Pimiento, Meghan A Balk

Abstract

The extinct shark Carcharocles megalodon is one of the largest marine apex predators ever to exist. Nonetheless, little is known about its body-size variations through time and space. Here, we studied the body-size trends of C. megalodon through its temporal and geographic range to better understand its ecology and evolution. Given that this species was the last of the megatooth lineage, a group of species that shows a purported size increase through time, we hypothesized that C. megalodon also displayed this trend, increasing in size over time and reaching its largest size prior to extinction. We found that C. megalodon body-size distribution was left-skewed (suggesting a long-term selective pressure favoring larger individuals), and presented significant geographic variation (possibly as a result of the heterogeneous ecological constraints of this cosmopolitan species) over geologic time. Finally, we found that stasis was the general mode of size evolution of C. megalodon (i.e., no net changes over time), contrasting with the trends of the megatooth lineage and our hypothesis. Given that C. megalodon is a relatively long-lived species with a widely distributed fossil record, we further used this study system to provide a deep...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 25, 2019·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Catalina PimientoJeroen B Smaers
Oct 20, 2017·Nature Ecology & Evolution·Catalina PimientoCarlos Jaramillo
Jun 14, 2018·The Journal of Experimental Biology·J A Goldbogen, P T Madsen
Sep 5, 2020·Scientific Reports·Jack A CooperMichael J Benton
Sep 25, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Fabien L CondamineGuillaume Guinot
Jan 15, 2021·Scientific Reports·Antonio Ballell, Humberto G Ferrón

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Software Mentioned

R package paleoTS
paleoTS
R
R Development Core Team

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