Hemipristis

Hemipristis (from Greek: ἡμι hēmi, 'half' and Greek: πρίστης prístēs 'saw')^[2] is a genus of weasel sharks, family Hemigaleidae. It contains one extant species, the snaggletooth shark (H. elongata) and several extinct species.

Hemipristis Temporal range: Middle Eocene–Recent[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Snaggletooth shark (H. elongata)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Division:	Selachii
Order:	Carcharhiniformes
Family:	Hemigaleidae
Genus:	Hemipristis Agassiz, 1843
Type species
Hemipristis elongata Klunzinger, 1871

Hemipristis has two distinct types of teeth in each section of its jaw. The ones on the upper jaw act as knives, cutting through the flesh of the prey, while the pointed ones on the bottom act as forks, spearing the prey and holding it down. Because this shark was poorly studied in the past and its top and bottom jaw teeth differ to such a great degree, its top and lower jaw teeth were assigned to a separate genus in the past.

Species

• Hemipristis elongata (Klunzinger, 1871)
• †Hemipristis curvatus Dames, 1883
• †Hemipristis serra Agassiz, 1835 - An extinct species from the Oligocene-Miocene of Florida, South Carolina, and other areas on the Atlantic coast.^[3]
• †Hemipristis tanakai Tomita et. al., 2023 - Rupelian of Japan

See also

• List of prehistoric cartilaginous fish