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Swimming through shark history

Illustration swimming through 83 million years of shark history.

The mackerel sharks (Lamniformes) and ground sharks (Carcharhiniformes) had their evolutionary history, from the end of Mesozoic to today, investigated. The modern diversity of those groups is discrepant, with 15 Lamniformes species and 290 Carcharhiniformes, but it was different back then.

In the study, more than 3000 shark teeth were analysed, looking how the diet molded the evolution of those sharks. Climatic and sea level changing events also dictated their teeth evolution, affecting the rises and declines of those sharks.

I had the pleasure to produce this painting on invitation and supervision of Mohamad Bazzi and Nicolás Campione for the media coverage of their new research.

The full paper:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982221012689

An article about the research in The Conversation:
https://theconversation.com/how-fussy-eating-and-changing-environments-led-to-the-diversity-of-sharks-today-and-spelled-the-end-for-megalodon-168851?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitterbutton