| Palaeobates Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Early Triassic Palaeobates polaris from Svalbard - picture taken at Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zurich | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Order: | †Hybodontiformes |
| Family: | †Acrodontidae |
| Genus: | †Palaeobates Meyer, 1849 |
| Type species | |
| †Psammodus angustissimus Agassiz in Alberti, 1834
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| Other species | |
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Palaeobates is an extinct genus of prehistoric elasmobranchs in the order Hybodontiformes. It lived during the Triassic period.1 It was a small shark about 1 m (3.3 ft) long.2 Palaeobates had a grinding-type dentition, which it used to crush hard-shelled prey. The teeth exhibit an orthodont histology.
Palaeoecology
Dental microwear analysis of P. angustissimus confirms that it was a durophagous predator, eating bivalves, gastropods, crustaceans and/or echinoderms.3
References
References
- Romano, Carlo; Brinkmann, Winand (December 2010). "A new specimen of the hybodont shark Palaeobates polaris with threedimensionally preserved Meckel's cartilage from the Smithian (Early Triassic) of Spitsbergen". Journal of Paleontology. 30 (6): 1673–1683. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.521962. S2CID 86411191.
- Scheyer, Torsten M.; Romano, Carlo; Jenks, Jim; Bucher, Hugo (19 March 2014). "Early Triassic Marine Biotic Recovery: The Predators' Perspective". PLOS ONE. 9 (3) e88987. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...988987S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088987. PMC 3960099. PMID 24647136.
- Paredes-Aliaga, María Victoria; Botella, Héctor; Romero, Alejandro (30 July 2024). "Testing dental microwear as a proxy for characterising trophic ecology in fossil elasmobranchs (chondrichthyans)". Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. 143 (1). doi:10.1186/s13358-024-00322-9. hdl:10045/146180. ISSN 1664-2376.