Joseph Fossil Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 As I was recently doing some research on the prehistoric shark genus Cladodus, I came across some info that classifies the genus as a member of the family Cladoselachidae, Order Cladoselachiformes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cladoselachidae This is somewhat confusing to me as mindat and the Paleontological Database aka fossilworks list Cladodus as a member of the family Ctenacanthidae, Order Ctenacanthiformes. https://www.mindat.org/taxon-8657177.html http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=104838 I'm personally leaning more towards Cladodus being a member of at least the Ctenacanthiformes. But I'm curious what are the origins of this taxonomic confusion on the genus Cladodus's phylogenetic placement in the Chondricthyan family? Is Cladodus a member of the Cladoselachiformes or Ctenacanthiformes? What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 Comments on the selachian genus Cladodus Agassiz, 1843 Class CHONDRICHTHYES Order CTENACANTHIFORMES Glikman, 1964 Remarks—The ctenacanthiform sharks have two ornamented dorsal fin spines (see Maisey, 1981) and cladodont teeth with at least slightly marked basolabial depression, flattened labial face of the median cusp (Williams, 2001), and bases of all cusps con- nected by a layer of enameloid and pallial dentine. All neuro- crania known thus far from the representatives of this order, such as Ctenacanthus from the Cleveland Shale (CMNH 9456), Tamiobatis (Eastman, 1897, Williams 1998), and Cladodoides (Maisey, 2001, 2005) show similar, primitive features, such as the long otico-occipital region and the wide axial part. Family CTENACANTHIDAE Dean, 1909 Included Genera of Which Teeth are Known—Ctenacanthus Agassiz, 1837, Cladodus Agassiz, 1843, Tamiobatis Eastman, 1897, Saivodus gen. nov. Genus CLADODUS Agassiz, 1843 2 1 "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Ammonite Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 (edited) Look at the references that Wikipedia cited. Pay attention to good recent references to see where the consensus is headed as to the family/order of Cladodus. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cladodus Realize that taxonomic classifications are opinions. Some agree and some are unsettled. Generally PBDB and GBIF are more reliable than Wikipedia. Pay more weight to recent publications that state opinions with evidence. I just added the PBDB link to Mindat. Both PBDB and GBIF say that Clododus is in family Ctenacanthidae, Order Ctenacanthiformes per more recent articles stated with evidence; go with that. I suspect Duffin and Ginter 2006 can explain why in English since Goto and Okura 2004 is in Japanese. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=referenceInfo&reference_no=30312 https://www.mindat.org/taxon-8657177.html Edited January 18, 2023 by DPS Ammonite 3 1 My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned. See my Arizona Paleontology Guide link The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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