Carcharocles

Carcharocles is a dubious genus of extinct sharks, belonging to the order Lamniformes and is part of the shark family Otodontidae.[1] They lived from the Late Eocene to the Late Pliocene. The genus is said to have descended from another otodontid shark genus called Otodus.[2] The genus usually includes the species informally known as megalodon (i.e., Carcharocles megalodon); however, some taxonomic authorities place that species in various other genera.[3] Some authors consider the genus Carcharocles a subgenus of Otodus,[4] including a study of Megalolamna's taxonomic relationships that demonstrates the possibility that Otodus needs to include the species sometimes assigned to Carcharocles (i.e., the megatoothed lineage, including megalodon) in order to be monophyletic.[3]

Carcharocles Temporal range: Late Eocene-Late Pliocene 56–3.6 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Model of the jaws of C. megalodon at the American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Order:	Lamniformes
Family:	†Otodontidae
Genus:	†Carcharocles Hannibal & Jordan in Jordan, 1923
Type species
Carcharocles auriculatus? Blainville, 1818
Species
C. aksuaticus? (Menner, 1928) C. angustidens? Agassiz, 1843 C. auriculatus? Blainville, 1818 C. chubutensis? Ameghino, 1901 C. megalodon? Agassiz, 1843 C. sokolovi? Jaekel, 1895