Galagadon, a shark with teeth like spaceships

[Logo7]

A new genus of freshwater carpet shark has been described from twenty four teeth found in a group of microfossils that were buried in buckets of left over sediment from the excavation of Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found, that were stored in the Field Museum. It has been given the name Galagadon nordquistae ("Nordquist's Galaga tooth"), with the genus name originating from the fact that its teeth resemble the spaceships in the video game Galaga and the Latin word "don," meaning "tooth," and the species name originating from Karen Nordquist, a volunteer who found the teeth in the sediment. Galagadon was about 12 to 18 inches in length and would have lived in the rivers and wetlands of South Dakota around 67 million years ago, eating small fish, snails, and crayfish. The presence of the teeth in the sediment that yielded Sue has also changed our perception of the environment of Late Cretaceous South Dakota. Sue was believed to have lived and died around a lake formed from an evaporating river, but now, thanks to Galagadon, it appears that the region had some sort of connection to the sea, allowing saltwater sharks to evolve into freshwater species. The new genus also helps to explain the evolution of carpet sharks, as it is a North American genus in a family that is typically found in Asia and Australia in the modern era. Here is a reconstruction of the new genus by artist Velizar Simeonovski of the Field Museum and an image of its spaceship-like teeth, as well as a link to the paper describing the new genus.





Paper (abstract only): https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/new-sharks-and-other-chondrichthyans-from-the-latest-maastrichtian-late-cretaceous-of-north-america/03C9F86EA8FE0C54C70BFB7783FC8AA2

[CityRaptor]

"That shark is playing Galaga! It thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

It's quite interesting what can be found in the "left overs". I wonder if young Tyrannosaurus and similar sized Theropods ocassionally hunted those sharks.

[BRONSON]

Very interesting post, many thanks.

[Faelrin]

Really interesting teeth it has there. I do love the fact they named it after Galaga (definitely one of my favorite retro games to play from time to time). The teeth sure do kind of look like some of the ships in that game oddly so. Anyways it is nice to learn of a "new" creature from that ecosystem.

[Halichoeres]

I almost posted this but I thought nobody would care! I'm so glad to see I was wrong