I 8 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Family PRISTIDAE 

 Sawfishes 



Characters. Those of the suborder. 



Genera. All modern Sawfishes appear to fall within a single genus, Pristis. At 

 most, the species in which a lower caudal lobe is developed have been given a separate 

 subgeneric name.^* The fossil pristids exhibit so wide a range of variation regarding 

 calcification of the rostral blade and the implantation and other characters of the rostral 

 teeth that a recent enumeration" lists not less than 12 genera. But it is likely that the 

 number of these would be reduced considerably were material available for as critical 

 a comparison of them as can be made for the modern Sawfishes. 



Genus Pristis Link 1790 



Sawfishes 



Pristis Link, Mag. Physik. Naturg. Gotha, 6 (3), 1790: 31 ; Latham, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., Zool. 2, 1794: 

 276; type species, Squalus pristis Linnaeus 1758. 



Generic Synonyms.*^ 



Pristibatus Blainville, Bull. Soc. philom. Paris (181 6), 1816: 121; type species, Pristis antiquorum Latham 

 1794, equals Squalus pristis Linnaeus 1758, designated by Fowler (Bull. geol. Surv. N. J., 4, 191 1 : 81). 



Pristibatys Blainville, Nouv. Diet. Hist, nat., ed. 2, 27, 1818: 385; emended spelling for Pristibatus Blain- 

 ville 1 8 16. 



Pristibatis Blainville, in Vieillot, Faune Frani;., 1825: 49; emended spelling for Pristibatus Blainville 18 16. 



Myriosteon Gray, Proc. zool. Soc. Lend., 1864: 163, 164; type M./iigginsii Gray.*^ 



Pristiopsis Fowler, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 57, 1905: 459; type species, Pristis perotteti Miiller and 

 Henle 1841;*^ subgenus for species with caudal having distinct lower lobe. 



Generic Characters. Rostral teeth deeply embedded in calcified sockets,** nearly 

 straight or slightly recurved and strongly compressed dorsoventrally, their tips sharp in 

 newborn specimens but slightly blunted in older ones; both edges (anterior and 

 posterior) sharp in young specimens, but the posterior edge more or less flattened, 

 evidently by wear, in large ones; neither surface channeled, though both surfaces 

 (dorsal and ventral) may be faintly striate toward the base. Each side of tail with a 

 low longitudinal ridge. Dorsal fins with free rear corners considerably extended, as 

 in many Sharks; the pectorals likewise. Caudal with or without a definitely outlined 



39. Pristiopsis Fowler (Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 57, 1905: 459). 



40. Romer, Vert. Palaeont., 2nd ed., 1945: 577. 



41. Fowler (Bull. U. S. nat. Mus., 100 [ij], 1941: 290) includes among the synonyms of Pristis the fossil Eopristis 

 Stromer (Beitr. Palaont. Geol. Ost. Ung., 18, 1905: 52). 



42. Based on a fragment that Gray thought might "indicate a new group of radiated animals nearly allied to Asterias"; 

 but later it was identified by Giinther (Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., S, 1870: 436, footnote) as one of the lateral tubes of 

 the saw of a Pristis that had become detached in some way. 



43. The date of publication of Fowler's Pristiopsis for a Sawfish was August 14, 1905. Thus it antedates Pristiopsis, 

 proposed by Schmidt (Stettin, ento. Ztg., 66 Jahrg., heft 2, 1905: 332) for Coleoptera, the date of publication being 

 November, as printed on p. 384 of the stated publication. 



44. This contrasts with their looser attachment to the blade in some fossil Sawfishes (p. 18). 



