{{Short description|Extinct genus of sharks}} {{italic title}} {{more citations needed|date=July 2013}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = ''Palaeorhincodon'' | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|60|35}} | image = | taxon = Palaeorhincodon | authority = Herman, 1974 | type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Palaeorhincodon wardi''''' | type_species_authority = Herman, 1974 | subdivision_ranks = Other species | subdivision = * {{extinct}}'''''P. daouii''''' <small>Noubhani & Cappetta, 1997</small> * {{extinct}}'''''P. dartevellei''''' <small>Arambourg, 1952</small> }}
'''''Palaeorhincodon''''' (meaning "old ''Rhincodon''") is an extinct genus of prehistoric whale shark from the Early Paleocene and Late Eocene periods. It had a similar distribution range to that of modern whale sharks, with teeth from ''Palaeorhincodon'' being found in warm water areas such as North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rhincodontidae |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=83129 |website=Fossilworks}}</ref> Some fossil teeth of ''Palaeorhincodon'' was found in possible Late Jurassic deposits. Its teeth are very small, being only 3 millimeters in height. There are up to 300 files of teeth in each jaw of ''Palaeorhincodon''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=elasmo.com |url=http://www.elasmo.com/frameMe.html?file=genera/cenozoic/sharks/palaeorhincodon.html&menu=bin/menu_genera-alt.html |access-date=2025-06-01 |website=www.elasmo.com}}</ref>
== Taxonomy == === History === The discovery of ''Palaeorhincodon'' began around the 19th century, in 1974, with the paleontologist Herman, who described the fossil of a new genus of prehistoric whale shark, ''Palaeorhincodon'', naming its type species, ''P. wardi'', and based on the holotype IRSNB P05823, among other specimens, with paratypes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Herman |title=Compléments paléoichthyologiques à la faune éocène de la Belgique. 1. Palaeorhincodon, genre nouveau de l'Eocène belge |journal=Bulletin de la Société Belge de Géologie |date=1974 |pages=7–13}}</ref> Previously, a species described from the genus ''Squatirhina'', known as ''S. dartevellei'', was also reclassified into the same genus as ''P. wardi''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Noubhani, A. |first1=Cappetta, H. |title=Les Orectolobiformes, Carcharhiniformes et Myliobatiformes (Elasmobranchii, Neoselachii) des Bassins à phosphate du Maroc (Maastrichtien-Lutétien basal) |journal=Palaeo Ichthyologica |date=1997 |pages=1–327}}</ref> In 1997, a new previously undescribed species of this same genus, ''P. daouii'', was named. Since then, ''Palaeorhincodon'' has been placed as a genus having only 3 known species.
=== Undescribed species === Some fossils were attributed to ''Palaeorhincodon'', many of them found in possible Upper Jurassic deposits and mainly from the Lower Eocene.
== Ecology == ''Palaeorhicodon'' presumedly behaved similarly to extant whale sharks, feeding on plankton and larger pelagic animals like small crustaceans, fish and squid.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Rhincodontidae Category:Paleocene fish Category:Eocene fish Category:Prehistoric fish of Africa