Onchopristis

Onchopristis is an extinct genus of sclerorhynchoid, or sawskate, from the Cretaceous of North Africa, Europe, North America, and potentially South America. The genus contains two valid species, O. numida and O. dunklei, though some researchers argue that both may be considered a single taxon with variation in morphology caused by a wide geographical range. Specimens of Onchopristis have been discovered in coastal and fluvial deposits dated from the Barremian to the Cenomanian ages, making this genus one of the oldest known sclerorhynchoids.

Onchopristis

Wilson44691 · CC0 · 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 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 121.4 Mya to 66 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 33.9 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 58 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 11 of 58 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 46 of 58 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 58 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 1 of 58 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 58 occurrences145–141 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences141–138 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences138–134 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences134–130 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences130–126 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences126–123 Mya — about 2 occurrences123–119 Mya — about 1 occurrence119–115 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences115–111 Mya — about 2 occurrences111–107 Mya — about 1 occurrence107–104 Mya — about 2 occurrences104–100 Mya — about 5 occurrences100–96 Mya — about 21 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 12 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences85–81 Mya — about 2 occurrences81–77 Mya — about 2 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 2 occurrences73–70 Mya — about 2 occurrences70–66 Mya — about 1 occurrence66–62 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences62–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121.4 Mya66 Mya145 Mya32 Mya

58 occurrences of Onchopristis 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

58 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

27 formations

Bahariya — 28.43°N, 28.92°EAguja — 29.32°N, 103.52°WAguja — 29.10°N, 103.17°WAguja — 29.30°N, 103.57°WContinental Intercalaire — 32.72°N, 0.83°EContinental Intercalaire — 28.50°N, 9.57°EContinental Intercalaire — 28.53°N, 9.05°EPaluxy — 32.19°N, 97.86°WPaluxy — 31.87°N, 98.86°WIfezouane — 30.88°N, 3.86°WIfezouane — 31.80°N, 4.25°WGraneros Shale — 40.01°N, 97.17°WGraneros Shale — 38.93°N, 98.91°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.87°N, 98.51°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.78°N, 98.96°WDakota — 40.06°N, 97.34°WDakota — 38.92°N, 98.50°WMizdah — 26.58°N, 12.77°EGara Samani — 29.67°N, 1.92°EColeraine — 47.42°N, 93.08°WNimar Sandstone — 21.99°N, 75.76°EWalnut Clay — 32.15°N, 97.58°WTravis Peak — 32.85°N, 97.96°WAïn el Guettar — 33.18°N, 10.26°EDouira — 31.57°N, 4.20°WEchkar — 17.71°N, 5.80°EMénaka — 16.75°N, 2.50°ETeberemt, Tamaguélelt, Continental Terminal — 16.30°N, 2.75°ELewisville — 32.88°N, 97.07°WBaharîje — 28.43°N, 28.91°ETar Heel — 34.61°N, 78.60°WGrès rouges — 32.04°N, 2.58°WUpper Clay — 27.26°N, 1.25°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Onchopristis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Onchopristis and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

475 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 57 sites for Onchopristis, 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

38 references

Each of the 58 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. 26 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 Onchopristis

Credit
Wilson44691
Licence
CC0
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 itSclerorhynchidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Stromer 1917