Fossil of Flat-toothed Shark Found in Colombia, A First in the Americas

Bogota- The fossil of a flat-toothed shark, the first record of this species in the Americas, has been discovered in the municipality of Zapatoca, Eastern Colombia by two paleontologists.

The flat-toothed shark is characterized by having teeth similar to small dominoes and which were used to crush food. The species of sharks that are known today have sharp teeth that they use to rip or cut.

This specimen was found by paleontologists Edwin Cadena, from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Universidad del Rosario, and Jorge Carrillo, from the University of Zurich in Switzerland. This new species was called by paleontologists as Strophodus Rebecae.

“The relevance of this species fossil is that it is the first record of a family of extinct flat-toothed sharks throughout the American continent,” said Edwin Cadena, paleontologist and director of the Earth System Sciences program at Universidad del Rosario.

According to Cadena, this species inhabited part of the sea that covered where it is located today. Colombia approximately 135 million years ago, during the geological period known as the early cretaceous.