PBDB Taxon

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Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Squalus

Chondrichthyes - Squaliformes - Squalidae

Taxonomy

Squalus was named by Linnaeus (1758) [Sepkoski's age data: K Camp R Sepkoski's reference number: 884]. It is extant.

It was assigned to Squalinae by Bendix-Almgreen (1983); to Squaliformes by Sepkoski (2002); and to Squalidae by Jordan and Hanibal (1923), Jordan (1963), Cassier (1966), Long (1992), Siverson (1993), Cvancara and Hoganson (1993), Underwood and Mitchell (1999), Purdy et al. (2001), Kocsis (2007), Adnet et al. (2008), Straube et al. (2015), Kent (2018), Cappetta et al. (2019), Hoganson et al. (2019), Villafaña et al. (2020), Cicimurri et al. (2022), Feichtinger et al. (2024), Maisch IV et al. (2025).

Species lacking formal opinion data

S. eocenus, S. obliquidens, S. seniculus, S. sericulus

Sister genera

Biforisodus

Synonyms

Acanthias was named by Leach (1818). It is extant.

It was reranked as Spinax (Acanthias) by Girard (1854); it was synonymized objectively with Squalus by Compagno (1984).

It was assigned to Spinax by Girard (1854); to Spinacidae by Chapman and Pritchard (1904), Chapman and Cudmore (1924), Leriche (1926); and to Squalidae by Jordan (1963).
Biforisodus was named by Daimeries (1888).

It was considered a nomen nudum by Daimeries (1888), Daimeries (1888).
Acanthorhinus was named by Blainville (1816). It is extant.

It was synonymized objectively with Squalus by Compagno (1984).

It was assigned to Squalidae by Jordan (1963).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1758	Squalus Linnaeus p. 233
1816	Acanthorhinus Blainville p. 95
1818	Acanthias Leach
1854	Spinax (Acanthias) Girard
1888	Biforisodus Daimeries p. 43
1904	Acanthias Chapman and Pritchard p. 269
1923	Squalus Jordan and Hanibal p. 58
1924	Acanthias Chapman and Cudmore p. 109
1926	Acanthias Leriche p. 381
1963	Acanthias Jordan p. 601
1963	Acanthorhinus Jordan p. 601
1963	Squalus Jordan p. 601
1966	Squalus Cassier p. 62
1983	Squalus Bendix-Almgreen p. 2
1992	Squalus Long p. 15
1993	Squalus Cvancara and Hoganson p. 5
1993	Squalus Siverson p. 4
1999	Squalus Underwood and Mitchell
2001	Squalus Purdy et al. p. 87
2002	Squalus Sepkoski
2007	Squalus Kocsis p. 29
2008	Squalus Adnet et al. p. 713
2015	Squalus Straube et al.
2018	Squalus Kent p. 59
2019	Squalus Cappetta et al. p. 1146
2019	Squalus Hoganson et al. p. 16
2020	Squalus Villafaña et al.
2022	Squalus Cicimurri et al.
2024	Squalus Feichtinger et al. p. 4
2025	Squalus Maisch IV et al. p. 8

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata

Rank	Name	Author
class	Chondrichthyes
infraclass	Elasmobranchii	(Bonaparte 1838)
superorder	Squalomorphi	(Compagno 1973)
order	Squaliformes	Goodrich 1909
family	Squalidae	Bonaparte 1834
genus	Squalus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. Squalus Linnaeus 1758

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Squalus acanthias Linnaeus 1758 [spiny dogfish]

†Squalus alsaticus Andreae 1892

†Squalus argentinensis Bogan et al. 2016

†Squalus ballingsloevensis Siverson 1993

†Squalus balsvikensis Siverson 1993

Squalus blainvillei Risso 1826 [longnose spurdog]

†Squalus chiconis Jordan 1907

†Squalus crenatidens Arambourg 1952

†Squalus gabrielsoni Siverson 1993

†Squalus huntensis Case and Cappetta 1997

Squalus megalops Macleay 1881 [shortnose spurdog]

†Squalus minor Leriche 1902

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Invalid names: Acanthias hennequini Daimeries 1888 [replaced]

†Squalus nicholsae Cappetta et al. 2019

†Squalus occidentalis Agassiz 1856

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Invalid names: Galeocerdo productus Agassiz 1834 [synonym], Squalus serriculus Jordan and Hanibal 1923 [synonym]

Squalus perlo Bonnaterre 1788 [sharpnose sevengill shark]

†Squalus smithi Herman 1982

†Squalus stehlini Leriche 1938

Squalus suckleyi Girard 1854 [Pacific spiny dogfish]

†Squalus vondermarcki Müller and Schöllmann 1989

†Squalus weltoni Long 1992

†Squalus woodburnei Long 1992

†Squalus worlandensis Case 1987

Invalid names: Acanthias Leach 1818 [objective synonym], Acanthorhinus Blainville 1816 [objective synonym], Squalus sorrakowah Cuvier 1829 [nomen nudum]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

marinesubp

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

nektonico

Diet:

carnivoreo

Created:

2009-07-21 07:18:41

Modified:

2009-07-21 09:18:41

Source: o = order, subp = subphylum

References: Wagner 2023, Hendy et al. 2009, Carroll 1988

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Early/Lower Cenomanian to the top of the Holocene or 100.50000 to 0.00000 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 93.9 Ma

Collections (238 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Oldest occurrences
Early/Lower Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	United Kingdom (England)	S. sp. (213364)
Late/Upper Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Lithuania	S. sp. (213719)
Middle Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	United Kingdom (England)	S. sp. (213365)
Early/Lower Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Germany (Niedersachsen)	S. vondermarcki (31992)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Israel	S. sp. (35443)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (South Dakota)	S. sp. (123582)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Canada (Alberta)	S. worlandensis (275649 275652)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Angola	S. vondermarcki (275709)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Canada (British Columbia)	S. sp., S. vondermarcki, S. nicholsae (221571) S. vondermarcki, S. nicholsae (221572)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (Wyoming)	Centrophoroides worlandensis (70253 70268 70269 70451 70453 70454 70455 70488 70490 70499 70500 70501)
Middle Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (California)	S. sp. (225373)
Late/Upper Campanian - Early/Lower Maastrichtian	83.6 - 66.0	New Zealand	S. sp. (153464)
Early/Lower Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	Sweden	S. ballingsloevensis, S. balsvikensis (214324 214325 214329 214330 214332 214333 214353) S. balsvikensis (214323 214351 214352)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	USA (Texas)	S. huntensis (61738)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	Sweden	S. gabrielsoni (214328)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	USA (North Dakota)	S. ballingsloevensis (213582 213584 213585 213589 213591) S. sp., S. ballingsloevensis (213587)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	Germany	S. vondermarcki (233262 240317 240319 240320 240322)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	USA (North Carolina)	S. huntensis (241417)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	Argentina (Santa Cruz)	Protosqualus argentinensis (181059)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	USA (New Jersey)	S. sp. (178550)