Carcharocles

Carcharocles refers to a now extinct genus of mega-tooth shark.

History
The tooth design that characterizes Carcharocles teeth, were originally attributed to the genus Carcharodon. The first species assigned to the genus Carcharodon was auriculatus by Blainville in 1818. auriculatus remained in the Carcharodon genus until 1923 when it was used as the type for Carcharocles by Jordan & Hannibal. In 1960, Casier dumped the megatoothed sharks (auriculatus through megalodon) into Procarcharodon. This was due to his belief that the modern Great white shark, Carcharodon was related to the megatoothed sharks. He produced a sort of "family tree", in which he suggested that the Great white shark had Evolutionevolved from "Isurus" hastalis and that the Paleocene genus Palaeocarcharodon was also a separate and unrelated lineage.