PBDB Taxon

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Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Hemigaleidae

Chondrichthyes - Carcharhiniformes - Hemigaleidae

Taxonomy

Hemigaleidae is a family.

It was assigned to Carcharhiniformes by Purdy et al. (2001), Chandler et al. (2006), Cahuzac et al. (2007), Adnet et al. (2007), Cicimurri and Knight (2009), Nelson et al. (2016), Kent (2018), Ebersole et al. (2019), Villafaña et al. (2020) and Cantalice et al. (2025).

Subtaxa

Chaenogaleus, Hemigaleus, Hemipristis, Moerigaleus, Paragaleus

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
2001	Hemigaleidae Purdy et al. p. 141
2006	Hemigaleidae Chandler et al. p. 2
2007	Hemigaleidae Adnet et al. p. 314
2007	Hemigaleidae Cahuzac et al. p. 24
2009	Hemigaleidae Cicimurri and Knight p. 634
2016	Hemigaleidae Nelson et al. p. 71
2018	Hemigaleidae Kent p. 105
2019	Hemigaleidae Ebersole et al. p. 66
2020	Hemigaleidae Villafaña et al. p. 740
2025	Hemigaleidae Cantalice et al. p. 13

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

Rank	Name	Author
subclass	Elasmobranchii	Bonaparte 1838
infraclass	Euselachii	()
—	Neoselachii	Compagno 1977
superorder	Galeomorphii	Compagno 1973
order	Carcharhiniformes	Compagno 1973
family	Hemigaleidae
family	Hemigaleidae

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. †Hemigaleidae

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G. Chaenogaleus Gill 1861

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†Chaenogaleus affinis Probst 1878

G. Hemigaleus Bleeker 1852

G. Hemipristis Agassiz 1835

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†Hemipristis curvatus Dames 1883

†Hemipristis cyclodonta Pedroni 1844

Hemipristis elongata Klunziger 1871

Hemipristis elongatus Klunziger 1871

†Hemipristis heteropleurus Agassiz 1844

†Hemipristis lavigniensis Henry 1876

†Hemipristis serra Agassiz 1835

Invalid names: Hemipristis paucidens Agassiz 1835 [synonym]

†Hemipristis wyattdurhami White 1956

G. †Moerigaleus Underwood and Ward 2011

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†Moerigaleus vitreodon Underwood and Ward 2011

G. Paragaleus Budker 1935

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 06:53:24

Modified:

2009-07-21 08:53:24

Source: o = order, subp = subphylum

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

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Rhaetian to the top of the Late/Upper Pleistocene or 208.50000 to 0.01170 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 201.3 Ma

Collections (231 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Oldest occurrences
Rhaetian	208.5 - 201.3	France (Franche-Comté)	Hemipristis lavigniensis (149394)
Late/Upper Paleocene	58.7 - 55.8	USA (Mississippi)	Galeorhinus affinis (62872)
Ypresian	56.0 - 47.8	Saudi Arabia (Ash Sharqiyah)	Hemipristis serra (42459)
Ypresian	56.0 - 47.8	India (Himachal Pradesh)	Hemipristis sp., Paragaleus sp. (31267)
Lutetian	47.8 - 41.3	Mexico (Chiapas)	Hemipristis sp. (45920)
Lutetian	47.8 - 41.3	Togo	Hemigaleidae indet. (32991)
Lutetian - Bartonian	47.8 - 38.0	Egypt	Hemipristis sp. (137540)
Middle Eocene - Late/Upper Eocene	47.8 - 33.9	Egypt	Hemipristis curvatus (62459)
Bartonian	41.3 - 38.0	USA (Alabama)	Hemipristis curvatus (16848 176944)
Bartonian	41.3 - 38.0	Tunisia (Sidi Bouzid Township)	Moerigaleus sp., Hemipristis curvatus (173640)
Bartonian	41.3 - 38.0	USA (Louisiana)	Hemipristis wyattdurhami (3534)
Bartonian	41.3 - 38.0	USA (Mississippi)	Hemipristis wyattdurhami (61249)
Bartonian	41.3 - 38.0	Western Sahara	Hemipristis curvatus (175734)
Priabonian	38.0 - 33.9	Jordan	Hemipristis sp., Hemigaleidae indet. (32899)
Priabonian	38.0 - 33.9	USA (South Carolina)	Hemipristis curvatus (202013 202014)
Priabonian	38.0 - 33.9	USA (Louisiana)	Hemipristis curvatus (75638) Hemipristis wyattdurhami (32925 55251)
Priabonian	38.0 - 33.9	USA (Arkansas)	Hemipristis wyattdurhami (16549)
Priabonian	38.0 - 33.9	Egypt	Hemipristis sp. (137547 137548 137550 137551 137556 137564 137568 137569 137573 137576 137579 137582 137586 137588) Moerigaleus vitreodon (13102 109049)
Priabonian	38.0 - 33.9	Western Sahara	Paragaleus sp., Hemipristis curvatus (96686 96688)
Priabonian	38.0 - 33.9	Barbados	Hemipristis serra (205153 220738)