Ganopristis

Sclerorhynchus is an extinct genus of ganopristid sclerorhynchoid that lived during the Late Cretaceous. The genus Ganopristis is considered a junior synonym of Sclerorhynchus. It was a widespread genus, with fossils found in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and North America. While it had a long rostrum with large denticles similar to sawfishes and sawsharks, its closest living relatives are actually skates. Complete specimens of S. atavus show that its fin arrangement was similar to skates, with the pectoral and pelvic fins touching, both dorsal fins located behind the pelvic fins, and a reduced caudal fin.

Ganopristis

Daeng Dino · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
SclerorhynchidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chondrichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 85.7 Mya to 66 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 26 of 26 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 26 occurrences86–86 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences81–81 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences79–79 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences77–77 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences74–74 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences72–72 Mya — about 2 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 2 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 2 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 2 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 2 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 2 occurrences68–68 Mya — about 2 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 2 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 2 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences83.6 Mya72.2 Mya86.2 Mya65.5 Mya

26 occurrences of Ganopristis on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

26 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Maastricht — 50.84°N, 5.79°EMaastricht — 50.87°N, 5.83°EMaastricht — 50.83°N, 5.68°EMaastricht — 50.87°N, 5.98°EMaastricht — 50.88°N, 5.93°EMishash — 30.87°N, 34.94°EMishash — 30.83°N, 35.08°EMishash — 30.83°N, 34.92°EMaastricht — 50.80°N, 5.68°EVitoria — 42.66°N, 2.63°WValdenoceda — 42.90°N, 3.30°WTorme — 42.67°N, 2.63°WMenuha — 30.95°N, 35.00°EGhared — 30.83°N, 35.08°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ganopristis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ganopristis and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Ganopristis and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

181 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Ganopristis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

10 references

Each of the 26 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Ganopristis

Credit
Daeng Dino
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ganopristis was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSclerorhynchidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Arambourg 1935