Xampylodon
Extinct genus of cow shark
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Xampylodon is an extinct genus of cow shark. Fossils assigned to this genus are known from the Late Cretaceous and early Paleocene. Xampylodon was erected in 2021 after a revision on the taxonomy of hexanchid fossil teeth, and includes four species (X. dentatus, X. loozi,X. brotzeni, and X. diastemacron), most of them previously included in Notidanodon.[1]
| Xampylodon Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Fossil of an anterolateral lower tooth, probably from Xampylodon loozi | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Division: | Selachii |
| Order: | Hexanchiformes |
| Family: | Hexanchidae |
| Genus: | †Xampylodon Cappetta, Morrison & Adnet, 2021 |
| Species | |
|
see text | |
Morphology
Xampylodon is known exclusively from isolated teeth. These teeth have a unique morphology (especially the saw-like teeth from the lower jaw). Xampylodon teeth are characterized by having an acrocone (or main cusp) and cusplets bent distally, with a convex mesial cutting edge. The mesial cusplets are much smaller than the distal ones. The root is very deep, unlike the condition observed in Notidanodon.[2] Xampylodon species differ from each other in aspects such as size, the number and shape of the mesial cusplets, the orientation of the acrocone, and the presence of a gap between cusplets.[3][4]
Species
- Xampylodon brotzeni (Siverson 1995)
- Xampylodon dentatus (Woodward 1886)
- Xampylodon diastemacron Santos et al. 2024
- Xampylodon loozi (Vincent 1876)
