Squalodon
| Squalodon Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skull of S. bariensis at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Superfamily: | Platanistoidea |
| Family: | †Squalodontidae Brandt, 1873 |
| Genus: | †Squalodon Grateloup, 1840 |
| Type species | |
| †Squalodon grateloupii von Meyer, 1843 | |
| Species | |
|
†S. antverpiensis (van Beneden, 1861) | |
Squalodon is an extinct genus of whales of the Oligocene and Miocene epochs, belonging to the family Squalodontidae. Named by Jean-Pierre Sylvestre de Grateloup in 1840, it was originally believed to be an iguanodontid dinosaur but has since been reclassified. The name Squalodon comes from Squalus, a genus of shark. As a result, its name means "shark tooth". It was once thought to be related to the 2 species of the genus Platanista ( the Ganges river dolphin and Indus river dolphin). However, it is a primitive odontocete with heterodont dentition and no modern descendants.