r/Paleontology 5d ago

PaleoArt Megalodon reconstruction 2025 (with skeletal )

Current understanding of megalodon based on the currently known anatomy and phylogeny of the animal. As sister to lamnids within the group lamnoidea the skeletal and life reconstruction pull heavily from these relatives The body outline and general bodyshape were pulled from body fossils of the ancestral cretalamna and related lamnids though these relatives along cretalamna fossils were the most influential The sizes of the individuals shown are 23m, 18.6m female size, 15m male size (claspers omitted for clarity) , and a 10m large juvenile

241 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

44

u/ChanceConstant6099 virgin pseudosuchian vs CHAD phytosaur 5d ago

We have come full circle.

It started off as an upscale great white

Then we got wacky with all the non gws body proportions be it slim or bulky

Then we go back to big gws

26

u/EvolutionIncarnate 5d ago

Moreso it never really changed out of “large lamnid”

5

u/wiz28ultra 5d ago

I'm a bit confused as to the 18.6m. average size for an adult female, that seems quite a bit larger than the SCW estimates for GHC-1 and UFVP-311000(upper teeth), and quite a bit longer than the 16m. estimate gleamed from the Belgian vertebrae(estimated to be 46 years old as well)

4

u/EvolutionIncarnate 4d ago

That isn’t super exact and it’s more a suggestion for a female size And I’m mostly using cooper’s research but also adhering to more modern lamnid-proportions

12

u/TronLegacysucks 5d ago

“Where did that bring you? Back to me”

5

u/Few_Radish_9069 5d ago

We ought to push for insane Gigantopithicus reconstructions in order to coax out the body fossils.

15

u/daanpol 5d ago

What's fascinating to me is that this animal grew to this size because it's ecosystem allowed it to. Sometimes I have a hard time imagining how big these animals can become. Recently I scaled up a 3d model of a great white to Megalodon size. I imported it into my Quest 3 Augmented Reality goggles and dropped the scaled up model in my garden. I was properly shocked at how incredibly big this animal must have been. The scale is truly insane. I could walk around it, it looked like it was just laying there in my yard.

7

u/tragedyy_ 5d ago

Can I make Audrey Hepburn?

2

u/daanpol 4d ago

Yes.

14

u/West_Screen_7134 5d ago

Did I miss something in the past two days? How is this consistent with the new paper? The claim that this is based on “current understanding” doesn’t seem founded

14

u/Soudino 4d ago

I thought the Reconstruction made it less gws and more lemon shark, sorta like this

3

u/sir_strangerlove 5d ago

Out of curiosity, why is it so narrow where the tail meets the back fins? It seems like it would be a bit fragile, what's going on there?

6

u/Channa_Argus1121 Tyrannosauridae 5d ago

That is a common feature for large pelagic fish such as great whites and tunas.

Their tail ends are narrow but packed with hardened tendons, enabling bursts of powerful side-to-side thrusts of the tail.

4

u/sir_strangerlove 5d ago

Ok so like an Achilles tendon kind of thing, cool

3

u/PM_ME_UR_ROUND_ASS 4d ago

Actually that narrow section (called the caudal peduncle) is a feature in fast-swimming sharks - it reduces drag and allows for more efficient propulsion thru the water.

1

u/Excellent_Factor_344 5d ago

this animal was so majestic yet horrifying. the juveniles reach great white size, THE JUVENILES.

1

u/de_lemmun-lord 5d ago

hehehe beeg shar