14 fossilised teeth from Egypt reveal five extinct ancient shark species

A barren stretch of Egypt’s Western Desert has revealed a prehistoric ocean's secrets, with scientists discovering fossilized shark teeth from five extinct species. These ancient predators lived during the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 83.6 to 72.1 million years ago, when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. The fossils were unearthed from the Abu-Tartur Plateau in southwestern Egypt, an area now arid but once covered by a warm tropical sea.

The study, published in Cretaceous Research, details a new assemblage of Late Cretaceous lamniform sharks found within the phosphate-rich Duwi Formation. Led by Tarek Yassin of Cairo University, the research team, including Jorge D. Carrillo-Briceño, René Kindlimann, Alhussein Ibrahim, and Mohamed K. AbdelGawad, found that these remains expand the known record of sharks in ancient North Africa. The Duwi Formation's phosphate beds, formed in a tropical marine environment, offer a valuable geological record of the creatures that inhabited these waters.

Researchers recovered 14 isolated lamniform teeth from the phosphate beds in the Maghrabi-Liffiya sector. Shark teeth are frequently preserved due to sharks continuously shedding and replacing them. Despite the small sample size, the distinct characteristics of the teeth allowed scientists to identify five extinct species: Cretalamna cf. C. maroccana, Scapanorhynchus cf. S. raphiodon, Serratolamna cf. S. serrata, Squalicorax bassanii, and Squalicorax pristodontus. The varying tooth shapes suggest a diverse community of predators with different feeding strategies, rather than a group competing for identical resources.

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Egyptian shark graveyard: New Late Cretaceous Lamniform shark assemblage from Duwi Formation of Abu-Tartur Area, Southwestern Desert, Egypt