Carcharodon hubbelli
Carcharodon hubbelli, also known as Hubbell's white shark, is an extinct species of white shark that evolved between 8 and 5 million years ago during the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene epochs. This shark is a transitional species, showing intermediate features between the extant great white shark and the fossil white shark, Carcharodon hastalis. C. hubbelli appears to be geographically restricted to the Pacific Ocean, with fossils of C. hubbelli recovered from Peru, Chile, California, and New Zealand. This exclusive distribution suggests a Pacific origin for the great white shark.
| Carcharodon hubbelli | |
|---|---|
| Holotype jaws and teeth (UF 226255), also known as the Sacaco specimen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Subdivision: | Selachimorpha |
| Order: | Lamniformes |
| Family: | Lamnidae |
| Genus: | Carcharodon |
| Species: | †C. hubbelli |
| Binomial name | |
| †Carcharodon hubbelli Ehret et al., 2012 | |
This shark was named in honor of Dr. Gordon Hubbell (the scientist who recovered the specimen from a farmer who found it in 1988) in recognition of his contribution to shark paleontology and for donating the specimen to the Florida Museum of Natural History in 2009. It was about the size of the modern great white shark, reaching 4.9–5.1 metres (16–17 ft) long. Its growth curve shows that it grew at a slower rate than the modern great white shark.