Weltonia burnhamensis
Weltonia burnhamensis
Summary
Weltonia burnhamensis was an early cow shark belonging to the ancient hexanchiform lineage. Cow sharks retain a number of primitive features compared with most modern sharks, and Weltonia formed part of a diverse Palaeogene history for a group that is much less varied today.
Its lower teeth carried a series of cutting cusps that together formed an effective slicing blade. This dentition is consistent with a generalist predatory role, probably involving fishes and other vertebrate prey; scavenging is also plausible from comparison with living cow sharks, although direct evidence of its behaviour is not preserved.
Known principally from teeth, W. burnhamensis cannot be reconstructed in full anatomical detail. Its dentition nevertheless reveals a capable flesh-cutting predator occupying one of the higher feeding levels in the early Eocene sea.
Quick Identification
Look for: a long lower cow-shark tooth with one dominant cusp and a row of roughly four to eight smaller distal cusplets on a low elongated root; keep the entire cusplet series for reliable identification.
Diagnostic Features
- Lower anterolateral tooth has a strong principal cusp at the mesial end.
- A serial row of approximately four to eight distal cusplets follows the main cusp.
- Cusplets diminish along the distal cutting edge.
- Crown is carried on a long low root extending beneath the entire cusp series.
- Overall cusp arrangement differs from the lower teeth of co-occurring Hexanchus and Notorynchus.
Fossil Details
Similar Species
Recorded Fossil Sites
London Clay Formation
References
- Rayner, D.; Mitchell, T.; Rayner, M. (2009). London Clay Fossils of Kent and Essex. 228 pp.. Medway Fossil and Mineral Society, Rochester, Kent View reference
- Ward, D.J. (1979). Additions to the fish fauna of the English Palaeogene. 3. A review of the Hexanchid sharks with a description of four new species. Tertiary Research, 2(3), 111–129 View reference
- Ward, D.J. (1980). The distribution of sharks, rays and chimaeroids in the English Palaeogene. Tertiary Research, 3(1), 13–19 View reference