Sclerorhynchus

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.

Sclerorhynchus

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 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 25 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 25 of 25 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 25 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 2 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 1 occurrence83–82 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences74–72 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 1 occurrence71–70 Mya — about 1 occurrence70–69 Mya — about 1 occurrence69–68 Mya — about 1 occurrence68–67 Mya — about 1 occurrence67–65 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences93.9 Mya72.2 Mya101.2 Mya65.3 Mya

25 occurrences of Sclerorhynchus 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

25 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

Marshalltown — 40.30°N, 74.30°WMarshalltown — 39.55°N, 75.65°WTaylor Marl — 33.46°N, 95.94°WGerhartsreit — 47.94°N, 13.01°EMishash — 30.87°N, 34.94°EKemp Clay — 33.21°N, 95.92°WNew Egypt — 40.09°N, 74.55°WWadi Umm Ghudran — 31.18°N, 35.70°EPoint Lookout — 35.20°N, 107.05°WCoffee Sand — 34.44°N, 88.58°WFox Hills — 44.52°N, 102.39°WAtco — 32.53°N, 96.99°WCarlile Shale — 44.09°N, 104.68°WPeedee — 34.38°N, 77.83°WVaals Greensand — 51.74°N, 6.09°EArkadelphia — 34.38°N, 92.85°W

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The named rock units Sclerorhynchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sclerorhynchus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

320 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Sclerorhynchus, 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

20 references

Each of the 25 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. 8 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 Sclerorhynchus

Credit
Daeng Dino
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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 itSclerorhynchidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Woodward 1889