Propristis

Propristis is an extinct genus of sawfish that lived from the Eocene to the Miocene. It contains two valid species, P. schweinfurthi and P. mayumbensis. It has been found in Egypt, Cabinda, Morocco, Qatar, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Isolated rostral denticles are the most common remains, but rostra has also been found.

Propristis

Abel, Othenio, 1875-1946 · No restrictions · 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
PristidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chondrichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 27.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 23.04 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 42 occurrencesEocene — about 41 of 42 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 42 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 42 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 1 occurrence46–45 Mya — about 1 occurrence45–44 Mya — about 1 occurrence44–43 Mya — about 1 occurrence43–42 Mya — about 1 occurrence42–41 Mya — about 2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 4 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 4 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 5 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 6 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 6 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 6 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48.07 Mya27.3 Mya56.7 Mya22.4 Mya

42 occurrences of Propristis on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

42 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

22 formations

Qasr el-Sagha — 29.62°N, 30.69°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.30°N, 29.99°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.06°EBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.03°EBirket Qarun — 29.48°N, 30.62°ESamlat — 23.36°N, 16.03°WSamlat — 23.56°N, 15.91°WMidawara — 29.02°N, 30.10°EMidawara — 29.08°N, 30.10°ESelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WMaadi — 30.08°N, 31.25°EAmeki — 5.00°N, 7.50°EAmeki — 5.56°N, 7.52°EGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 87.80°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°WClinchfield — 32.91°N, 83.36°WGar Gehannam — 29.32°N, 30.15°EJacksonian — 32.74°N, 83.50°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WDaba'a — 29.16°N, 27.43°EVic-Manlleu Marls — 41.88°N, 2.20°EAridal — 25.09°N, 13.89°WLandana — 5.22°S, 12.14°EMalembo — 5.34°S, 12.18°EDammam — 24.55°N, 51.07°ETupelo Bay — 33.24°N, 80.44°WGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.15°EQasr ElSagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Propristis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Propristis and its relatives

Eocene

Where Propristis and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

654 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 29 sites for Propristis, 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

22 references

Each of the 42 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. 10 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 Propristis

Credit
Abel, Othenio, 1875-1946
Licence
No restrictions
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Propristis was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itPristidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.