Onchopristis

Onchopristis
Temporal range:
Rostral denticle of O. numida
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Rajiformes
Suborder: Sclerorhynchoidei
Family: Onchopristidae
Villalobos-Segura, Kriwet, Vullo, Stumpf, Ward, & Underwood, 2021
Genus: Onchopristis
Stromer, 1917
Type species
Onchopristis numida
(Haug, 1905)
Other species
  • Onchopristis dunklei
    McNulty & Slaughter, 1962
Synonyms
Genus synonymy
    • Platyspondylus
      Haug, 1905
    • Onychopristis
      Jordan, 1923 (lapsus calami)
    • Peyeria
      Weiler, 1935
    • Sechmetia
      Werner, 1989
    • Onchopristes
      Kirkland, 1996 (lapsus calami)
    • Ochopristis
      Hunt, Santucci, & Kenworthy, 2006 (lapsus calami)
Species synonymy
  • O. numida
      • Gigantichthys numidus
        Haug, 1905
      • Platyspondylus foureaui
        Haug, 1905
      • Squatina aegyptiaca
        Stromer, 1927
      • Sechmetia aegyptiaca
        (Stromer, 1927)
      • Peyeria libyca
        Weiler, 1935
    O. dunklei
      • Onchopristis dunklei praecursor
        Thurmond, 1971
      • Sechmetia cruciformis
        Werner, 1989

Onchopristis is an extinct genus of sclerorhynchoid, or sawskate, from the Cretaceous of North Africa, Europe, North America, and potentially South America. It 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 (~125-94 mya), making this genus one of the oldest known sclerorhynchoids.