Dykeius
Temporal range:
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Subdivision: Selachimorpha
Order: Hexanchiformes
Family: Chlamydoselachidae
Genus: †Dykeius
Cappetta, Morrison & Adnet, 2019
Species:
†D. garethi
Binomial name
†Dykeius garethi
Cappetta, Morrison & Adnet, 2019

Dykeius is an extinct genus of large shark in the family Chlamydoselachidae. It contains a single known species, D. garethi, from the Late Cretaceous Northumberland Formation of Canada. The genus and species names honor paleontologist Gareth J. Dyke.[1]

It was a gigantic relative of the modern frilled shark (genus Chlamydoselachus). The teeth are much larger than those of any other known chlamydoselachid species, and comparison with modern frilled sharks estimates a total body size of at least 7 metres (23 ft).[2][3]

As with modern frilled sharks, it appears to have inhabited a deepwater environment. It is one of several giant frilled sharks known from the Late Cretaceous, along with Rolfodon goliath and undescribed taxa known from teeth, suggesting that such large sharks were not uncommon. It may have been specialized to hunt large cephalopods such as certain belemnites and ammonites, and eventually went extinct due to the disappearance of its prey.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Dykeius garethi | Shark-References". shark-references.com. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  2. 1 2 Cappetta, Henri; Morrison, Kurt; Adnet, Sylvain (2021-08-03). "A shark fauna from the Campanian of Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada: an insight into the diversity of Cretaceous deep-water assemblages". Historical Biology. 33 (8): 1121–1182. doi:10.1080/08912963.2019.1681421. ISSN 0891-2963.
  3. ↑ Feichtinger, I.; Pollerspöck, J.; Harzhauser, M.; Auer, G.; Ćorić, S.; Kranner, M.; Guinot, G. (2023-02-01). "Shifts in composition of northern Tethyan elasmobranch assemblages during the last millennia of the Cretaceous". Cretaceous Research. 142: 105414. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105414. ISSN 0195-6671.
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