Sarcoprion

Sarcoprion
Temporal range: Wuchiapingian, 259–254 Ma
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Paratype specimen of Sarcoprion edax, from the collection of the Danish Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Holocephali
Order: †Eugeneodontida
Family: †Helicoprionidae
Genus: †Sarcoprion
Nielsen, 1952
Species
  • S. edax
Speculative life reconstruction based on the partial skull described by Nielsen (1952)
Reconstructed jaw and dentition of Sarcoprion (top right) alongside a whorl of the related Helicoprion bessonowi (left)

Sarcoprion (from the Ancient Greek, "flesh saw") is an extinct genus of eugeneodont holocephalan from the Permian of Greenland. Similar to other helicoprionids such as Agassizodus and Helicoprion,[1] it possessed tooth whorls on the symphysis of the jaw as well as flattened, pavement-type teeth. It is distinguished from other members of its family by the presence of sharp, symphyseal teeth on both the upper and lower jaws. The tooth whorl on the lower jaw bore sharp, compact tooth crowns, while a row of backward facing, triangular teeth was present on the roof of the mouth.[2] The preserved material does not show evidence of a distinct upper jaw, implying it may have been fused to the cranium, reduced, or lost entirely.[2][3] The type and only species in the genus is S. edax.[2]

  1. ^ Schultze, Hans-Peter; Schultze, Hans-Peter (1981). Chondrichthyes I: Paleozoic Elasmobranchii. Handbook of paleoichthyology / hrsg. von Hans-Peter Schultze. Begr. von Oskar Kuhn. Bearb. von S. E. Bendix-Almgren. Ort nicht ermittelbar: Verlag nicht ermittelbar. ISBN 978-3-437-30337-1.
  2. ^ a b c Nielsen, Egil (30 August 1952). "On new or little known Edestidae from the Permian and Triassic of East Greenland". Meddelelser om Grønland (144): 5–55.
  3. ^ Zangerl, Rainer (1966). A new shark of the family Edestidae, Ornithoprion hertwigi, from the Pennsylvanian Mecca and Logan quarry shales of Indiana / Rainer Zangerl --. [Chicago]: Field Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.5302.