Heckelodes

Heckelodes is an extinct genus of sharks that lived during the early Oligocene. It contains one species, H. priscus, which has been found in Italy.

Heckelodes Temporal range: Rupelian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Superorder:	Galeomorphi?
Genus:	†Heckelodes Greenfield, 2025[1]
Type species
†Heckelodes priscus (Heckel, 1854)[2]
Synonyms
Genus synonymy Galeodes Heckel, 1854 (preoccupied by Galeodes Olivier, 1792)[3] Species synonymy Galeodes priscus Heckel, 1854 Galeocerdo priscus (Heckel, 1854)[4]

Taxonomy

Galeodes priscus was named by Johann J. Heckel in 1854 for a skin impression (containing dermal denticles) from the Chiavon [it] locality in Italy.^[2] The holotype is located at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Verona [it].^[4] The original genus name was preoccupied by the solifugid Galeodes^[3] and was replaced by Heckelodes in 2025.^[1]

In 1889, Francesco Bassani reassigned the species to Galeocerdo and referred 2 teeth and 13 vertebrae from the same locality.^[4] That synonymy was accepted by other researchers like Arthur S. Woodward^[5], Errol I. White and James A. Moy-Thomas,^[6] and Henry W. Fowler.^[7] However, this material has no overlap and is possibly chimaeric; one tooth is similar to Physogaleus and the vertebrae could be from a lamniform.^[1] H. priscus cannot be identified as a species of Galeocerdo based on its holotype.^[8]