Palaeogaleus vincenti

Palaeogaleus vincenti

(Leriche, 1902)

Common name Hound shark
Fossil group Sharks & Rays
Order Carcharhiniformes
Family Triakidae
Genus Palaeogaleus
Taxonomic status Accepted
Geological age Thanetian

Summary

Palaeogaleus vincenti was a small extinct hound shark. Its teeth are low and carcharhiniform in style, indicating a modest-sized active predator rather than a large open-water macropredator.

The dentition was suited to grasping small fishes and invertebrates.

Quick Identification

Look for: a very small hound-shark tooth with a distally inclined triangular cusp, weak lateral cusplets or heels, fine vertical folds at the labial crown base and a thick bilobed root with a central nutritive groove.

Diagnostic Features

  • The principal cusp is triangular and becomes strongly distally directed in lateral teeth.
  • The labial crown base commonly carries fine to coarse vertical folds or costules.
  • Lateral cusplets are weakly developed compared with many other Palaeogaleus species.
  • The crown base overhangs a thick holaulacorhizid root.
  • A deep median nutritive groove crosses the lingual root protuberance.

Fossil Details

Typical size
Teeth are very small; published examples are commonly only about 3–5 mm wide.
Fossil material
Tooth
Preservation
The weak cusplets and basal folds are easily polished away. Complete crown-base and root morphology should be retained before assigning worn teeth to species.

Similar Species

Recorded Fossil Sites

Reculver Sand Member

Thanet Formation
Confirmed
Reculver

References

  • Dineley, D. & Metcalf, S. (1999). Fossil Fishes of Great Britain. Geological Conservation Review Series, 675 pp.. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough View reference
  • Ward, D.J. (1978). The Lower London Tertiary (Palaeocene) succession of Herne Bay, Kent. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences. Institute of Geological Sciences 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
Last Reviewed
22 August 2026 Reviewed by Sam Harris