The world’s longest cave reveals “Chipmunk Shark” with iron teeth

The service of the US National Park announced the identification of the new species of ancient shark, Clavusodens McGinnisi, discovered in the Mammoth Cave National Park. The name of the genre honors David McGinnis for his leadership in paleontological resources management.

Clavusodens McGinnisi or McGinnis’s Nail-Hoods has been found in the mammoth, the world’s longest cave system. Fossed teeth were discovered in Ste. Genevieve formation, limestone layer and slate created on the floor of warm ocean reefs in the middle geological period of Missisippi.

The formation is estimated at about 340 million years and brought many prehistoric fish fossils. Cave mammoth has over 70 different species of fossils of ancient fish, including clavusodens mcginnisi identified from small petrified teeth.

The newly identified shark had an estimated length of only 8 to 10 centimeters (3 to 4 inches). He belonged to the group of sharks known as Peluchevodid Petalodonts or Chipmunk Sharks, due to their small size and unusual teeth.

The rear teeth of the shark had flat crowns and long bases reminiscent of old iron nails, which contributed to its common name. The front teeth were more similar to chisel, which suggests a diverse diet. His rear teeth were suitable for crushing the victim, such as crustaceans and small shoulder arm, and fed with crustaceans, small shoulder frames and worms at the seabed.

“Fossil discoveries in the mammoth of the cave still reveal the wealth of new information about the species of ancient sharks,” said Barclay Trimble curator, According to IFLSCIENCE. “Scientists and volunteers collected samples from the main cave system of giant and smaller insulated caves in the entire park, which provided new data on known ancient sharks and revealed several species that are completely new in science”, “,” Also said.

McGinnis is considered a involvement in paleontological resource management during a 39-year career who began at Mammoth Cave National Park.

The sectors were “one of the most specialized cartilage fish during Mississippi, potentially adapted to life in complex reef and reef habitats,” scientists said.

Scientists suspect that Clavusodens McGinnisi could live in reef -like systems filled with sea invertebrates called crinoids or sea lily, which attached to the floor of the sea like plants.

These fossils reach 330.9 million to 323.2 million years ago. The rocks in the mammoth of the cave retained sea deposits from the Karbon period (358.9 million to 298.9 million years ago), because this area once fell at the bottom of the Old Ocean.

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Scientists document vertebrate fossils in the mammoth cave since 2019. The work of documenting fossils in a mummy cave is difficult due to the often cramped cave conditions and a limited space for transferring equipment to and leaving. “Many of these places have low ceilings that need to crawl over long distances on the hands and knees, and sometimes the abdomen,” wrote the scientists.

The discovery of Clavusodens McGinnisi is not for the first time a new species of ancient shark in a limestone mammoth limestone. Last year, paleontologists identified two new species: Troglocladodus Trimblei and Glikmanius Careforum. These sharks were much larger than McGinnis shark.

Troglocladodus Trimblei and Glikmanius Careforme from the middle and late Mississippi. It is believed that Glikmanius Careforum had a particularly strong bite.

“These discoveries help scientists better understand the relationship and evolution of modern shark species in this relatively small geographical region,” said Trimble.

The discovery was revealed in a study published on January 24 in the Journal of Paleontology.

The article was written with the help of a message analysis system.

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