Dalatias

Dalatias
Temporal range:
Dalatias licha
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Division: Selachii
Order: Squaliformes
Family: Dalatiidae
Genus: Dalatias
Rafinesque, 1810
Type species
Dalatias licha
Species
  • D. licha (Bonnaterre, 1788)
  • D. turkmenicus Glikman, 1964
  • D. orientalis Malyshkina et al., 2023

Dalatias is a genus of kitefin sharks that have lived since the Middle Eocene. The genus contains one extant and two extinct species: D. licha (the type species), D. turkmenicus and D. orientalis. Because D. turkmenicus was described on the basis of a single tooth crown, D. licha was considered as the only valid species within the genus until Malyshkina et al. (2023) described a third species, D. orientalis, from the Middle Miocene Duho Formation in Pohang, South Korea.