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Sphyrnidae (hammerhead shark)
Taxonomy
Sphyrnidae was named by Gill (1872). It is extant.
It was reranked as the subfamily Sphyrninae by Hay (1902).
It was assigned to Galeidae by Hay (1902); to Euselachii by Dartevelle and Casier (1943); to Galeoidei by Jordan (1963); to Isuroidei by Case (1981); and to Carcharhiniformes by Purdy et al. (2001), Compagno (2005), Adnet et al. (2007), Cicimurri and Knight (2009), Nelson et al. (2016), Kent (2018), Villafaña et al. (2020), Ebersole et al. (2024), Landau et al. (2025), Cicimurri et al. (2025).
It was reranked as the subfamily Sphyrninae by Hay (1902).
It was assigned to Galeidae by Hay (1902); to Euselachii by Dartevelle and Casier (1943); to Galeoidei by Jordan (1963); to Isuroidei by Case (1981); and to Carcharhiniformes by Purdy et al. (2001), Compagno (2005), Adnet et al. (2007), Cicimurri and Knight (2009), Nelson et al. (2016), Kent (2018), Villafaña et al. (2020), Ebersole et al. (2024), Landau et al. (2025), Cicimurri et al. (2025).
Subtaxa
Entered
by M. Uhen on 2006-07-28; modified by M. Uhen on 2026-02-10
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 1872 | Sphyrnidae Gill |
| 1902 | Sphyrninae Hay p. 314 |
| 1943 | Sphyrnidae Dartevelle and Casier p. 163 |
| 1963 | Sphyrnidae Jordan p. 600 |
| 1981 | Sphyrnidae Case p. 66 |
| 2001 | Sphyrnidae Purdy et al. p. 157 |
| 2005 | Sphyrnidae Compagno |
| 2007 | Sphyrnidae Adnet et al. p. 314 |
| 2009 | Sphyrnidae Cicimurri and Knight p. 635 |
| 2016 | Sphyrnidae Nelson et al. p. 72 |
| 2018 | Sphyrnidae Kent p. 121 |
| 2020 | Sphyrnidae Villafaña et al. p. 739 |
| 2024 | Sphyrnidae Ebersole et al. p. 10 |
| 2025 | Sphyrnidae Cicimurri et al. p. 38 |
| 2025 | Sphyrnidae Landau et al. p. 27 |
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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.
Fm. Sphyrnidae Gill 1872 [hammerhead shark]
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G. †Cestrorhinus Blainville 1816
G. Eusphyra Giill 1862
G. †Platysqualus Swainson 1839
G. †Reniceps Gill 1861
G. †Sphyra Van der Hoeven 1849
G. †Sphyrichthys Thienemann 1828
G. Sphyrna Rafinesque 1810 [hammerhead shark]
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†Sphyrna americana Leriche 1942
†Sphyrna arambourgi Cappetta 1970
†Sphyrna denticulata Agassiz 1843
†Sphyrna gibbesii Hay 1902
†Sphyrna gracile Cicimurri et al. 2025
†Sphyrna guinoti Adnet et al. 2020
†Sphyrna integra Probst 1878
†Sphyrna itoriensis White 1926
†Sphyrna laevissima Cope 1867
†Sphyrna lata Agassiz 1843
Sphyrna lewini Griffith and Smith 1834 [scalloped hammerhead]
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Invalid names: Sphyrna diplana Springer 1941 [synonym]
†Sphyrna magna Cope 1868
Sphyrna media Springer 1940 [scoophead]
Sphyrna mokarran Rüppell 1837 [great hammerhead]
†Sphyrna prisca Agassiz 1843
†Sphyrna prisca eastmani Eastman 1904
†Sphyrna robustum Cicimurri et al. 2025
Sphyrna tiburo Linnaeus 1758
†Sphyrna tortilis White 1926
Sphyrna vespertina Springer 1940
Sphyrna zygaena Linnaeus 1758 [smooth hammerhead]
Invalid names: Zygaena Cuvier 1816 [synonym]
G. †Sphyrnias Rafinesque 1815
Diagnosis
No diagnoses are available
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| 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 Late/Upper Cretaceous to the top of the Late/Upper Pleistocene or 100.50000 to 0.01170 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 66.0 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 66.0 Ma
Collections (173 total)
Oldest occurrences | |||
| Time interval | Ma | Country or state | Original ID and collection number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late/Upper Cretaceous | France | Sphyrna prisca (242173) | |
| Late/Upper Paleocene | USA (Maryland) | Sphyrna sp. (84046) | |
| Thanetian | USA (Maryland) | Sphyrna prisca (124191) | |
| Early/Lower Eocene | India | Sphyrna sp. (210158) | |
| Ypresian | Saudi Arabia (Ash Sharqiyah) | Sphyrna prisca (42459) | |
| Lutetian | Nigeria | Sphyrna itoriensis, Sphyrna tortilis (187560) | |
| Lutetian | USA (Alabama) | Rhizoprionodon sp. (276540) Sphyrna sp. (13346) | |
| Lutetian | Togo | Sphyrna sp. (32991) | |
| Lutetian - Bartonian | China (Xinjiang) | Sphyrna zygaena (278018 278019) | |
| Lutetian - Chattian | Congo-Kinshasa | Sphyrna prisca (275437) | |
| Bartonian | Tunisia (Sidi Bouzid Township) | Sphyrna sp., Sphyrna guinoti (173640) | |
| Late/Upper Eocene | Barbados | Sphyrna laevissima (220735) | |
| Late/Upper Eocene | USA (Georgia) | Sphyrna zygaena (73434) | |
| Priabonian | Western Sahara | Sphyrna sp. (96686 96688) | |
| Priabonian | Barbados | Sphyrna laevissima (205153) | |
| Priabonian | Egypt | Sphyrna sp. (145984) | |
| Early/Lower Oligocene | Pakistan (Balochistan) | Sphyrna sp. (78520) | |
| Rupelian | USA (South Carolina) | Sphyrnidae indet. (60444) | |
| Rupelian | USA (Alabama) | Sphyrna sp. (235364) | |
| Whitneyan | USA (Florida) | Sphyrna sp. (17341) | |