Edestidae

The Edestidae are a poorly known, extinct family of shark-like eugeneodontid holocephalid cartilaginous fish. Similar to the related family Helicoprionidae, members of this family possessed a unique "tooth-whorl" on the symphysis of the lower jaw and pectoral fins supported by long radials. In addition to having a tooth-whorl on the lower jaw, at least one species of the genus Edestus had a second tooth-whorl in the upper jaw. The palatoquadrate was either fused to the skull or reduced. Edestids, along with the rest of the Eugeneodontida, are placed within the Holocephali.[1]

Edestidae
Temporal range: 407.7–200 Ma Early Carboniferous to Early Jurassic
Edestus protopirata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: †Eugeneodontida
Clade: †Edestoidea
Family: †Edestidae
Jaekel, 1899
Genera
  • Edestus
  • Helicampodus
  • Lestrodus
  • Metaxyacanthus
  • Parahelicampodus
  • Physonemus
  • Prospiraxis
  • Syntomodus

References
  1. Tapanila, L., Pruitt, J., Pradel, A., Wilga, C., Ramsay, J., Schlader, R., Didier, D. 2013. Jaws for a spiral-tooth whorl: CT images reveal novel adaptation and phylogeny in fossil Helicoprion. Biology Letters. 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0057


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