Onchopristis is a genus of extinct giant sclerorhynchid sawfish that lived in the Lower Cretaceous to Upper Cretaceous in North Africa and New Zealand. It had an elongated snout lined laterally with barbed teeth.
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Description
Onchopristis is a large sclerorhynchid sawfish, known from remains throughout North America, North Africa and New Zealand. As with modern sawfish, Onchopristis's eyes were on top of its head, to spot predators rather than prey, and its mouth and gills were under its body. The rostrum, or snout, was around 2.5 m (8.2 ft) long, lined with barbed teeth. In the type species, O. numidus, each tooth had one barb, but in O. dunklei there were two to five barbs on each tooth, two to three in O. d. praecursor, and three to five in O. d. dunklei. The rostrum most likely would have had electroreceptors to detect food in the water below them like most modern sharks and some rays. Onchopristis may have raked through the riverbed to find and then eat prey.
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References
- Dutheil, D.B., Brito, P.M., 2009. Articulated cranium of Onchopristis numidus (Sclerorhynchidae, Elasmobranchii) from the Kem Kem Beds, Morocco. In: Jalil, N.-E. (Ed.), 1st International Congress on North African Vertebrate Palaeontology, Program & Abstracts, Marrakech, 25-27 May 2009, p. 66.
- Haug, E. Paléontologie. Documents Scientifiques de la mission saharienne (mission Foureau-Lamy). Publications de la Société de Géographie, p. 751-832
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