Are megalodon and modern great white sharks close relatives?

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Illustration of a female megalodon shark (Carcharocles megalodon) with a faint human scuba diver silhouette in the background for scale, highlighting the shark's massive size. Measurement bars at the bottom show 3 meters and 9 feet for reference. — megalodon Megalodon (*Carcharocles megalodon*) was a species of shark that lived during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (23.03 million to 2.58 million years ago).

The relationship between the megalodon and the modern white shark is a subject of ongoing scientific debate, and it is inaccurate to definitively classify them as close relatives.

While some paleontologists previously grouped them in the same lineage (Carcharodon) due to similarities in their serrated teeth, many researchers now place the megalodon within the extinct family of megatooth sharks (Otodontidae). Current evidence suggests that the similarities in their tooth structure may be the result of convergent evolution, a process where unrelated organisms independently evolve similar traits to adapt to comparable environments or ecological niches.1

Research indicates that modern white sharks likely evolved from a different lineage of lamnid sharks approximately 5 million years ago, further distancing them from the megalodon's evolutionary history.1