PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Protosphyraena

Osteichthyes - Pachycormiformes - Pachycormidae

Taxonomy

Protosphyraena was named by Leidy (1857) [Sepkoski's age data: K Albi K Camp Sepkoski's reference number: 2,915].

It was assigned to Pachycormiformes by Sepkoski (2002); to Pachycormidae by Woodward (1895), Hay (1902), Applegate (1970), Thurmond and Jones (1981), Shimada et al. (2006), Friedman et al. (2010), Nagrodski et al. (2012), Bice and Shimada (2016), Hoganson et al. (2019), Amalfitano et al. (2020); and to Hypsocorminae by Cooper et al. (2022).

Species

P. bentoniana, P. chirurgus, P. dimidiata, P. ferox, P. gibberula (syn. Ptychodus arcuatus), P. hurleyi, P. nitida, P. obliquidens, P. occidentalis, P. perniciosa, P. recurvirostris, P. spectabilis, P. tenuirostris, P. tenuis, P. terminalis

Species lacking formal opinion data

P. compressirostris, P. libyea

Synonyms

Australopachycormus was named by Kear (2007).

It was synonymized subjectively with Protosphyraena by Kanarkina et al. (2025).

It was assigned to Pachycormidae by Friedman et al. (2010); and to Hypsocorminae by Cooper et al. (2022).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1857	Protosphyraena Leidy
1895	Protosphyraena Woodward p. 399
1902	Protosphyraena Hay p. 379
1970	Protosphyraena Applegate p. 404
1981	Protosphyraena Thurmond and Jones p. 86
2002	Protosphyraena Sepkoski
2006	Protosphyraena Shimada et al. p. 23
2007	Australopachycormus Kear
2010	Australopachycormus Friedman et al. p. S33
2010	Protosphyraena Friedman et al. p. S37
2012	Protosphyraena Nagrodski et al. p. 82
2016	Protosphyraena Bice and Shimada p. 184
2019	Protosphyraena Hoganson et al. p. 51
2020	Protosphyraena Amalfitano et al. p. 275
2022	Australopachycormus Cooper et al. p. 7
2022	Protosphyraena Cooper et al. p. 7

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

Rank	Name	Author
subclass	Actinopterygii	()
infraclass	Actinopteri	()
—	Teleosteomorpha
—	Aspidorhynchei	Nelson et al. 2016
order	Pachycormiformes	Berg 1940
family	Pachycormidae	Woodward 1895
subfamily	Hypsocorminae	Vetter 1881
genus	Protosphyraena	Leidy 1857

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. †Protosphyraena Leidy 1857

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†Protosphyraena bentoniana Stewart 1898

†Protosphyraena chirurgus Cope 1875

†Protosphyraena dimidiata Cope 1878

†Protosphyraena ferox Leidy 1857

†Protosphyraena gibberula Agassiz 1837

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Invalid names: Ptychodus arcuatus Agassiz 1837 [synonym]

†Protosphyraena hurleyi Kear 2007

†Protosphyraena nitida Cope 1873

†Protosphyraena obliquidens Loomis 1900

†Protosphyraena occidentalis Stewart 1898

†Protosphyraena perniciosa Cope 1874

†Protosphyraena recurvirostris Stewart 1896

†Protosphyraena spectabilis Agassiz 1837

†Protosphyraena tenuirostris Woodward 1895

†Protosphyraena tenuis Loomis 1900

†Protosphyraena terminalis Kanarkina et al. 2025

Invalid names: Australopachycormus Kear 2007 [synonym]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

marinesubp

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

nektonico

Diet:

carnivoref

Created:

2009-07-20 21:09:52

Modified:

2009-07-20 23:09:52

Source: f = family, o = order, subp = subphylum

References: Carroll 1988, Kiessling 2004, Hendy et al. 2009

Age range: base of the Early/Lower Aptian to the top of the Maastrichtian or 121.40000 to 66.00000 Ma

Collections (49 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Early/Lower Aptian	121.4 - 119.57	United Kingdom (England)	P. sp. (241457)
Late/Upper Albian	106.3 - 100.5	Russian Federation	P. gibberula (239000 239001)
Late/Upper Albian	106.3 - 100.5	United Kingdom (England)	P. ferox (94253)
Early/Lower Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Russian Federation (Kursk)	P. ferox, P. tenuirostris (239002)
Early/Lower Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	France (Poitou-Charentes)	P. sp. (73862)
Late/Upper Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	USA (Kansas)	P. sp. (213416 213418 213419)
Late/Upper Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Spain (Asturias)	P. sp. (98396)
Late/Upper Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	USA (South Dakota)	P. sp. (117819)
Late/Upper Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Italy	P. ferox (214600)
Late/Upper Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	USA (Colorado)	P. sp. (132505)
Middle Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	USA (Kansas)	P. sp. (83071 94538)
Middle Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	USA (Colorado)	P. sp. (35429 213403)
Middle Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Canada (Saskatchewan)	P. sp. (22731 52997)
Middle Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	USA (Nebraska)	P. sp. (239336)
Cenomanian - Turonian	100.5 - 89.8	United Kingdom (England)	P. ferox (238510)
Late/Upper Turonian	93.9 - 89.8	Czechia	P. ferox (213123)
Middle Turonian	93.9 - 89.8	USA (Kansas)	P. sp. (213387)
Middle Turonian	93.9 - 89.8	USA (Nebraska)	P. sp. (213389)
Turonian	93.9 - 89.8	Czechia	P. ferox (242199)
Turonian - Coniacian	93.9 - 85.7	USA (Texas)	P. sp. (107425)
Early/Lower Coniacian	89.8 - 85.7	USA (Texas)	P. perniciosa (241388)
Late/Upper Santonian	85.7 - 83.6	France (Somme)	P. ferox (141941)
Middle Santonian - Late/Upper Santonian	85.7 - 83.6	USA (Kansas)	P. sp. (241665)
Santonian	85.7 - 83.6	Russian Federation (Orenburg)	P. sp. (232890)
Santonian	85.7 - 83.6	USA (Alabama)	P. sp., P. nitida (81928)
Santonian	85.7 - 83.6	USA (Kansas)	P. tenuis (94652)
Late/Upper Santonian - Early/Lower Campanian	85.7 - 72.2	USA (Alabama)	P. sp. (81931 81972)
Early/Lower Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (Alabama)	P. sp. (81930)
Early/Lower Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Sweden (Skåne)	P. sp. (74334 74335 102883)
Middle Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (North Carolina)	P. sp. (128412)
Middle Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Canada (Manitoba)	P. sp. (36707)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	USA (North Dakota)	P. sp. (213580 213582 213585 213589 213593 213618 213620)
Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	Jordan	P. libyea (36256)
Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	Belgium	P. terminalis (239003)