3D model of a Cretacladoides noricum (NHMW-GEO-2017/0055/0001)

<p>3D model based on a microCT scan of the tooth that represents the holotype of&nbsp;<em>Cretacladoides noricum</em>, which is about 138 million years old (Early Cretaceous). The tooth was found in a limestone from the Calcareous Alps in upper Austria.&nbsp;This tooth’s morphology is considered to be restricted to Palaeozoic
sharks, which did not survive the end Permian mass extinction event
around 250 million years ago. However, research on teeth of this kind
suggests that this clade persisted until the Early Cretaceous around 140
million years ago (Source: Guinot et al. 2013). This shark tooth possesses a cladodont tooth morphology, which means
that the main cusp is always high and slender with two or more pairs of
lateral cusplets, but the largest pair of cusplets is never the most
proximal one to the main cusp.&nbsp;Inside the tooth, the vascularization pattern (blood vessels), which provided the tooth with nutrients, is segmented and shown in the 3D model.</p>