Listracanthus

Listracanthus is a genus of extinct chondrichthyan with uncertain affinities. Species of Listracanthus are known primarily from their tremendous, feather-like denticles, which range up to four inches in length. The denticles had a large main spine, from which secondary spines emanate from the sides, like the barbs of a feather or a comb. Listracanthus first appeared in late Carboniferous strata in North America, and eventually disappear from the fossil record some time during the Early Triassic.^[1]

Life restoration by Ray Troll, depicting the animal as an anguilliform swimmer with an elongated body based on an alleged lost specimen

Listracanthus Temporal range: Late Carboniferous to Early Triassic[1][2] 326.4–251 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Cluster of Listracanthus denticles on display at the Milan Natural History Museum
Denticles of the holotype specimen of L. pectenatus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Order:	incertae sedis
Family:	†Listracanthidae
Genus:	†Listracanthus Newberry & Worthen, 1870
Species[1]
L. beyrichi von Koenen, 1879 L. eliasi Hibbard, 1938 L. hildrethi Newberry, 1875 L. hystrix Newberry & Worthen, 1870 (type) L. pectenatus Mutter & Neuman, 2006 L. wardi Woodward, 1891 L. woltersi Schmidt, 1949

The appearance of these sharks are largely unknown. However, author and illustrator Ray Troll mentions in his book, Sharkabet, about how paleontologist Rainer Zangerl once discovered a large shale slab containing a long, eel-like fish covered in long, spine-like denticles characteristic of the genus, only to have it dry out and crumble into dust. As such, according to Zangerl's account, Troll reconstructs Listracanthus as resembling a tremendous, fiercely bristled frill shark.^[3]

Martill et al., (2014) created the genus Acanthorhachis for the species formerly known as "Listracanthus" spinatus (Bolton, 1896). They also erected the family Listracanthidae to encompass the two genera.^[4]

References

1. Mutter, R.J.; Neuman, A.G. "An enigmatic chondrichthyan with Paleozoic affinities from the Lower Triassic of western Canada". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 51 (2): 271–282.
2. Listracanthus on the Paleobiology Database
3. Ray Troll (2002). Sharkabet: A Sea of Sharks from A to Z. Westwinds Press, ISBN 1558685197
4. MARTILL, DAVID M.; DEL STROTHER, PETER J. A.; GALLIEN, FLORENCE (2013-07-08). "Acanthorhachis, a new genus of shark from the Carboniferous (Westphalian) of Yorkshire, England". Geological Magazine. 151 (3): 517–533. doi:10.1017/s0016756813000447. ISSN 0016-7568. S2CID 129437036.

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