A research team in Colombia has presented what they consider the the world's most complete shark fossil, a discovery that offers a privileged window into the marine past of the Cretaceous and the study of the prehistoric fish. Comes from Villa de Leyva (Boyacá) and preserves pieces that rarely reach us in this class of animals.
The specimen belongs to Protolamna ricaurtei, an example of cartilaginous fish and is around the 6,65 meters in length, a size close to that of the large modern lamniforms. After a research of more than seven years led by the Colombian Geological Service and the National University, its results have been published in the journal Cretaceous Research.
An exceptional find in Boyacá
The story of the piece begins in 1993, when the peasant Archimedes Moreno found the remains on La Catalina hill, in the municipality of Villa de Leyva. The fossil first passed through the Community Action Board, was sheltered in 2015 in the Saint Teresa of Avila Foundation and, already in 2018, arrived on loan to the National University of Colombia for study.
At first, paleontologists considered that it was a plesiosaur, but detailed analysis of the vertebrae revealed another reality: it was a lamniform shark from the Early CretaceousThis environment corresponds to a warm sea that makes more than 100 billion years covered the current Cundiboyacense Plateau.
The estimated length, almost seven meters —much smaller than the megalodon shark— and its robust build point to an effective predator, although not especially fast, adapted to take advantage of good-sized prey in those Cretaceous waters.
The significance of the discovery lies not only in its size: the preservation of elements that are ephemeral in sharks is extraordinary. In these cartilaginous fish, the skeleton rarely fossilizes well, so finding so many articulated parts and soft tissues is unusual.
Seven years of study: what the fossil reveals
The material retains at least 107 articulated vertebrae, plus teeth, multiple denticles (shark scales) and remains of cartilage, muscle and skinFor a giant lamniform, this level of integrity is unprecedented.
The team applied microanalysis and characterization techniques of preserved materials, which confirmed the nature of the specimen and its exceptional condition. The preparation was slow and thorough, and each phase provided new clues about its anatomy and preservation.
The work, published in Cretaceous Research, was led by researchers from the Colombian Geological Service and National University of Colombia, entre ellos Maria Eurydice Páramo-Fonseca y Cristian Benavides-Cabra, references in the study of Cretaceous marine vertebrates.
One of the most striking results questions a widespread idea: that the tooth size In shark macrophages it is directly correlated with the body sizeThis specimen shows relatively small teeth for its size, which invites us to review how the dimensions of extinct species are estimated based only on dentition.
The fossil is currently in the custody of the Saint Teresa of Avila Foundation, in the museum of the City of God (Villa de Leyva)Its value transcends the academic: in addition to enriching knowledge about the evolution of sharks, strengthens the heritage regional paleontology and the projection of Boyacá as a destination for science and nature.
With this discovery, Colombia consolidates itself as key territory for paleontology of marine vertebrates from the Cretaceous, a position cemented by other discoveries in the area around Villa de Leyva, where they have also appeared ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and sea turtles of considerable importance.
The combination of a large specimen, its extraordinary preservation and the exhaustive technical analysis allows us to profile Protolamna ricaurtei as a robust predator of warm Cretaceous waters, and at the same time rethinks how we interpret dental morphology in the fossil record of sharks.
