Otodus megalodon (Agassiz, 1835) is an extinct species of giant lamniform shark known from Neogene deposits around the world. Despite having been found decades ago, Canadian specimens of O. megalodon have never been formally described. Here, we identify and describe eight of these specimens, all of which were recovered by scallop dredging activities on Georges Bank, Nova Scotia. Although all these specimens are ex situ, they probably came from Miocene-aged surface deposits on Georges Bank. Similar-aged deposits on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland that have also been dredged for scallops have not yielded any O. megalodon fossils to date. However, several sites with abundant O. megalodon teeth are known from Miocene deposits along the northeast coast of the USA. We therefore cautiously interpret the Canadian specimens as occurring at or near the northern range limit of the species, and discuss the potential limiting factors of this species’ range.
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Research Article|
November 29, 2024
The first Otodus megalodon remains from Canada and their predicted range limit
Louis-Philippe Bateman;
(Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft)
a
Department of Biology, McGill University
, Montreal, QC CanadaCorresponding author: Louis-Philippe Bateman (email: [email protected])
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Hans C.E. Larsson
Hans C.E. Larsson
(Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing – review & editing)
a
Department of Biology, McGill University
, Montreal, QC Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Louis-Philippe Bateman
Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft
a
Department of Biology, McGill University
, Montreal, QC Canada
Hans C.E. Larsson
Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing – review & editing
a
Department of Biology, McGill University
, Montreal, QC CanadaCorresponding author: Louis-Philippe Bateman (email: [email protected])
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
Received:
12 Aug 2024
Accepted:
22 Nov 2024
Accepted Manuscript:
29 Nov 2024
First Online:
05 Mar 2025
Online ISSN: 1480-3313
Print ISSN: 0008-4077
Funding
- Funder(s):Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Award Id(s): 594361-2024
- Award Id(s):
The Authors
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Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (2025) 62 (3): 569–578.
Article history
Received:
12 Aug 2024
Accepted:
22 Nov 2024
Accepted Manuscript:
29 Nov 2024
First Online:
05 Mar 2025
Citation
Louis-Philippe Bateman, Hans C.E. Larsson; The first Otodus megalodon remains from Canada and their predicted range limit. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 2024;; 62 (3): 569–578. doi: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2024-0110
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