Helicoprion

Helicoprion is an extinct genus of large shark-like cartilaginous fish that lived from the Early to the Middle Permian, about 290-270 million years ago. Helicoprion is a member of the Eugeneodontiformes, an extinct order of cartilaginous fish within the clade Holocephali, a group today represented only by chimaeras. It is also the type genus of the Helicoprionidae, a family of eugeneodonts characterised by distinctive tooth structures called tooth whorls. Helicoprion was first named in 1899 by Alexander Karpinsky on the basis of fossils discovered in Russia and Australia, the generic name meaning "spiral saw". Although numerous species were subsequently assigned to the genus, only H. bessonowi, H. davisii, and H. ergassaminon are recognized following a 2013 revision. The three species are distinguished by the shape and spacing of their tooth crowns.

Helicoprion

James St. John · 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
HelicoprionidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Eugeneodontiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Eugeneodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Eugeneodontiformes
Length
10 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 30 million years on record.

The record covers at least 290.1 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 35 occurrencesPermian — about 35 of 35 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 35 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences298–297 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences292–290 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences288–287 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences285–284 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences284–282 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences282–280 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences279–277 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences277–275 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 2 occurrences274–272 Mya — about 5 occurrences272–271 Mya — about 5 occurrences271–269 Mya — about 5 occurrences269–267 Mya — about 5 occurrences267–266 Mya — about 1 occurrence266–264 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences262–261 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences261–259 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences259–257 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences256–254 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences254–253 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences290.1 Mya259.857 Mya299.8 Mya251 Mya

35 occurrences of Helicoprion on record, most of them in the Permian. 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

35 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

15 formations

Phosphoria — 42.97°N, 106.78°WPhosphoria — 39.60°N, 110.82°WPhosphoria — 47.06°N, 109.43°WPhosphoria — 44.00°N, 114.00°WPhosphoria — 43.35°N, 109.40°WPhosphoria — 42.32°N, 111.30°WPhosphoria — 42.32°N, 111.24°WPhosphoria — 43.04°N, 112.06°WPhosphoria — 42.30°N, 111.02°WPhosphoria — 42.89°N, 111.40°WPhosphoria — 42.80°N, 111.39°WPhosphoria — 42.53°N, 111.25°WPhosphoria — 42.67°N, 111.28°WAssistance — 75.82°N, 108.60°WBone Spring — 31.88°N, 104.88°WPatlanoaya — 18.50°N, 98.25°WRanger Canyon — 51.10°N, 115.65°WWandagee — 23.69°S, 114.45°EGoodhue Greenstone — 39.72°N, 120.63°WQixia — 31.12°N, 112.22°ESkinner Ranch — 30.21°N, 103.40°WAntler Peak — 40.63°N, 117.02°WYagihawa limestone — 36.50°N, 139.41°EOchiai — 38.98°N, 141.53°EFantasque — 58.74°N, 124.44°WWord — 30.37°N, 103.27°WVan Hauen — 78.33°N, 85.91°W

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The named rock units Helicoprion has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Helicoprion and its relatives

Permian

Where Helicoprion and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

88 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Helicoprion, 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

18 references

Each of the 35 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. 6 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 content2

Picture of Helicoprion

Credit
James St. John
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-ShareAlike
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itHelicoprionidae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Karpinsky 1899