PBDB Taxon

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

Ptychodus

Chondrichthyes - Lamniformes - Ptychodontidae

Taxonomy

Ptychodus was named by Agassiz (1834) [Sepkoski's age data: K Albi-u K Camp Sepkoski's reference number: 884. This author and date are according to Giusberti et al. 2018, PBDB ref. 76687.]. It is the type genus of Ptychodontidae.

It was assigned to Cestraciontidae by Leidy (1873); to Myliobatidae by Woodward (1889); to Heterodontiformes by Itoigawa (1977); to Ctenacanthida by Sepkoski (2002); and to Ptychodontidae by Hay (1902), Jordan (1963), Applegate (1970), Uyeno (1972), Herman (1977), Thurmond and Jones (1981), Case et al. (1990), Shimada (1996), Cappetta and Case (1999), Cicimurri (2003), Niedźwiedzki and Kalina (2003), Everhart and Darnell (2004), Shimada (2006), Shimada et al. (2006), Cahuzac et al. (2007), Shimada and Martin (2008), Shimada et al. (2009), Bourdon et al. (2011), Guinot et al. (2013), Cicimurri et al. (2014), Bice and Shimada (2016), Giusberti et al. (2018), Amadori et al. (2019), Amalfitano et al. (2020), Maisch et al. (2021), Goñi and Cuny (2022), Juranek and Shimada (2025).

Species lacking formal opinion data

P. janewayii, P. mammilaris

Sister genera

Buffonites

Synonyms

Buffonites was named by Sternberg (1829).

It was considered a nomen oblitum by Brignon (2015), Giusberti et al. (2018).
Ptychodus schlottheimii was named by Agassiz (1834).

It was replaced with Ptychodus latissimus by Brignon (2015); it was considered a nomen oblitum by Giusberti et al. (2018).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1829	Buffonites Sternberg p. 301
1834	Ptychodus Agassiz p. 69
1834	Ptychodus schlottheimii Agassiz p. 69
1873	Ptychodus Leidy p. 352
1889	Ptychodus Woodward p. 132
1902	Ptychodus Hay p. 317
1963	Ptychodus Jordan p. 605
1970	Ptychodus Applegate p. 393
1972	Ptychodus Uyeno p. 223
1977	Ptychodus Herman p. 46
1977	Ptychodus Itoigawa p. 126
1981	Ptychodus Thurmond and Jones p. 41
1990	Ptychodus Case et al. p. 1084
1996	Ptychodus Shimada p. 6
1999	Ptychodus Cappetta and Case p. 9
2002	Ptychodus Sepkoski
2003	Ptychodus Cicimurri pp. 5-7 figs. 4, A-K
2003	Ptychodus Niedźwiedzki and Kalina pp. 16-21 figs. figs.3 & 5(1)
2004	Ptychodus Everhart and Darnell p. 127
2006	Ptychodus Shimada p. 165
2006	Ptychodus Shimada et al. p. 6
2007	Ptychodus Cahuzac et al. p. 11
2008	Ptychodus Shimada and Martin p. 89
2009	Ptychodus Shimada et al. p. 336
2011	Ptychodus Bourdon et al. p. 6
2013	Ptychodus Guinot et al. p. 593
2014	Ptychodus Cicimurri et al. p. 11 figs. 7N-P
2016	Ptychodus Bice and Shimada p. 174
2018	Ptychodus Giusberti et al. p. 251
2019	Ptychodus Amadori et al. p. 230
2020	Ptychodus Amalfitano et al. p. 267
2021	Ptychodus Maisch et al. p. 4
2022	Ptychodus Goñi and Cuny
2025	Ptychodus Juranek and Shimada p. 5

Is something missing? Join the Paleobiology Database and enter the data

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

Rank	Name	Author
class	Chondrichthyes
subclass	Euselachii	()
—	Neoselachii	Compagno 1977
superorder	Galeomorphii	Compagno 1973
order	Lamniformes	Berg 1958
family	Ptychodontidae
genus	Ptychodus

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. †Ptychodus Agassiz 1834

show all | hide all

†Ptychodus altior Agassiz 1835

†Ptychodus anonymus Williston 1900

†Ptychodus articulatus Agassiz 1837

†Ptychodus atcoensis Hamm 2009

†Ptychodus belluccii Bonarelli 1899

†Ptychodus concentricus Agassiz 1839

†Ptychodus decurrens Agassiz 1838

Invalid names: Ptychodus decurrens multiplicatus Leriche 1902 [synonym], Ptychodus depressus Dixon 1850 [synonym], Ptychodus levis Woodward 1893 [synonym], Ptychodus multistriatus Woodward 1889 [synonym], Ptychodus oweni Dixon 1850 [synonym]

†Ptychodus elevatus Leriche 1929

†Ptychodus latissimus Agassiz 1835

†Ptychodus mahakalensis Chiplonkar and Ghare 1977

†Ptychodus mammillaris Agassiz 1835

Invalid names: Buffonites knorrii Sternberg 1829 [replaced], Buffonites undulatus Sternberg 1829 [replaced]

†Ptychodus marginalis Agassiz 1839

†Ptychodus martini Williston 1900

Invalid names: Ptychodus connellyi MacLeod and Slaughter 1980 [synonym]

†Ptychodus mediterraneus Canavari 1916

†Ptychodus mortoni Mantell 1836

†Ptychodus occidentalis Leidy 1868

†Ptychodus papillosus Cope 1875

†Ptychodus parvulus Whiteaves 1889

†Ptychodus paucisulcatus Dixon 1850

†Ptychodus pauli Coquand 1859

†Ptychodus polygyrus Agassiz 1835

†Ptychodus polygyrus concentricus Agassiz 1839

†Ptychodus polygyrus marginalis Agassiz 1839

†Ptychodus rhombodus Underwood and Cumbaa 2010

†Ptychodus rugosus Dixon 1850

†Ptychodus sulcatus Agassiz 1839

†Ptychodus whipplei Marcou 1858

Invalid names: Buffonites Sternberg 1829 [nomen oblitum], Ptychodus schlotheimii Agassiz 1834 [nomen oblitum]

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 07:05:21

Modified:

2009-07-21 09:05:21

Source: o = order, subp = subphylum

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

Age range: base of the Early/Lower Cenomanian to the top of the Danian or 100.50000 to 61.66000 Ma

Collections (192 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Oldest occurrences
Cretaceous	143.1 - 66.0	India	P. mahakalensis (91555)
Albian - Cenomanian	113.2 - 93.9	Mexico (Hidalgo)	P. sp. (135815)
Late/Upper Albian - Cenomanian	106.3 - 93.9	USA (Texas)	P. sp. (235811)
Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Ukraine	P. marginalis, P. anonymus (231906) P. sp., P. polygyrus, P. decurrens, P. mammillaris, P. marginalis, P. altior, P. anonymus (231904)
Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	France	P. decurrens, P. mammillaris (242208) P. polygurus (242194)
Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Angola	P. sp. (275502)
Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	USA (South Dakota)	P. anonymus (275606) P. anonymus, P. occidentalis (275607)
Early/Lower Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Russian Federation (Moscow)	P. polygyrus, P. decurrens, P. anonymus (241666)
Early/Lower Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Romania	P. mammillaris (241428)
Early/Lower Cenomanian - Middle Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	Belgium	P. mammillaris (241976)
Youngest occurrences
Time interval	Ma	Country or state	PBDB collection number
Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Germany	P. sp. (241720)
Early/Lower Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Kazakhstan	P. sp. (241395)
Early/Lower Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Lithuania	P. latissimus (213715)
Early/Lower Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (Alabama)	P. mortoni (171351)
Early/Lower Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (Texas)	P. connellyi (213544)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Germany	P. sp. (64127)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	USA (Alabama)	P. mortoni (4203)
Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	France	P. sp. (195628)
Maastrichtian	72.2 - 66.0	Jordan	P. sp. (36256)
Danian	66.0 - 61.66	USA (Illinois)	P. sp. (70129)