In this undated photo provided by John-Paul Hodnett are a row of teeth on the lower jaw of a 300 million year old shark species named this week after an almost complete skeleton of the species in 2013 in New Mexico. Discoverer Hodnett says that short, curled teeth first warned him of the possibility that the specimen originally nicknamed “Godzilla Shark” may be a distinct species from the old cousins, who have longer, spear-like teeth. The image was made using angular light techniques that reveal fossil features beneath the sediment. (John-Paul Hodnett via AP)
The teeth of the 300 million year old shark were the first sign that it could be a distinct species.
Ancient chomperes looked less like spear-like rows of teeth. They were squatter and smaller, less than an inch long, about 2 inches.
“Great for catching and crushing prey, rather than losing prey,” said discoverer John-Paul Hodnett, who was a graduate student when he unearthed the first shark fossils in an excavation east of Albuquerque in 2013.
This week, Hodnett and a number of other researchers published their findings in a bulletin at the Museum of Natural History and Science in New Mexico, identifying the shark as a separate species.
He named the monster Dracopristis hoffmanorum, 2.7 meters, or Hoffman’s dragon shark, in honor of the New Mexico family who own the land in the Manzano Mountains where the fossils were found. Hodnett says the area is full of fossils and easily accessible due to a quarry and other commercial excavations.
The name also refers to the line of a dragon-like jaw and the 2.5-foot (0.75 meter) wing spines that inspired the initial nickname of the discovery, “Godzilla Shark”.
The official announcement of the name was followed by seven years of excavation, conservation and study.
The 12 rows of teeth on the lower jaw of the shark, for example, were still hidden by the sediment layers after excavation. Hodnett only saw them using an angular light technique that illuminates the objects below.
Hodnett is now a paleontologist and program coordinator for the Dinosaur Park at the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission in Laurel, Maryland. His research colleagues come from the New Mexico Museum, as well as St. Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania, Northern Arizona University and Idaho State University.
The recovered fossil skeleton is considered the most complete of its evolutionary branch – cenacanth – which separated from modern sharks and rays about 390 million years ago and disappeared about 60 million years later.
Back then, eastern New Mexico was covered by a seaway that stretched deep into North America. Hodnett and his colleagues believe that the dragon shark Hoffman most likely lived in the depths along the coast, chasing prey such as crustaceans, fish and other sharks.
New Mexico’s desert plateaus have also produced many dinosaur fossils, including various tyrannosaurus species that roamed the earth millions of years ago, when it was a tropical rainforest.
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