Rhinidae

Wedgefishes are rays of the family Rhinidae, comprising eleven species in three genera. Classified in the order Rhinopristiformes along with guitarfishes and sawfishes, they have also been known as giant guitarfishes or sharkfin guitarfishes.

Rhinidae

Peter Giger · CC BY 2.0 · 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
RhinopristiformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chondrichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 82 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 85.7 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Late Cretaceous — about 1 of 111 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 111 occurrencesEocene — about 59 of 111 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 8 of 111 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 38 of 111 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 111 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 111 occurrences87–85 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 1 occurrence55–52 Mya — about 5 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 5 occurrences50–47 Mya — about 8 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 10 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 10 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 4 occurrences38–35 Mya — about 11 occurrences35–32 Mya — about 6 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 3 occurrences29–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 1 occurrence23–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–17 Mya — about 7 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 6 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 11 occurrences12–8.7 Mya — about 6 occurrences8.7–5.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.8–2.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.9–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences83.6 Mya774 ka87 Mya0 Mya

111 occurrences of Rhinidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

111 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

49 formations

Matam — 15.32°N, 13.03°WDongen — 52.73°N, 6.30°EDongen — 53.16°N, 6.22°ESelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.03°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.29°N, 29.99°ECantaure — 11.97°N, 70.02°WCantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WKuma — 45.10°N, 34.63°EEarnley — 51.08°N, 1.17°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WSamlat — 23.36°N, 16.03°WMidawara — 29.03°N, 30.13°EMidawara — 29.08°N, 30.12°EGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°EChitarwata — 29.02°N, 68.99°EChitarwata — 28.85°N, 69.13°EGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WUscari — 9.57°N, 82.57°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WAshley — 32.95°N, 80.18°WAshley — 32.97°N, 80.20°WBrussel Sand — 50.87°N, 4.38°EBrussel Sand — 50.53°N, 4.26°EMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.28°WUrumaco — 11.19°N, 70.26°WUrumaco — 11.24°N, 70.25°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WWittering — 51.08°N, 1.17°WWadi Umm Ghudran — 31.18°N, 35.70°E

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The named rock units Rhinidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 25 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Rhinidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Rhinidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,404 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 93 sites for Rhinidae, 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

59 references

Each of the 111 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. 47 further references are not listed. 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 Rhinidae

Credit
Peter Giger
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itRhinopristiformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Muller and Henle 1841