Phyletic Relationships of Living Sharks and Rays
1977/05/01 by LEONARD J. V. COMPAGNO, Leonard J. V. Compagno · 545 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Biology #Cladistics #Ecology #Evolutionary biology #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Living fossil #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Phyletic gradualism #Phylogenetics #Zoology
paper · doi:10.1093/icb/17.2.303
published in American Zoologist 17(2), 303-322 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 1977/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract
A set of hypotheses are developed for the origin of living sharks and rays and the interrelationships of their major groups, using some methods of cladistic analysis to relate groups with shared derived characters. Comparative studies on living sharks and rays combined with new data on fossil sharks suggests that the living groups ultimately stem from a common ancestral group of “neoselachian” sharks with many modern characters. Reinterpretations of “amphistyly” in modern sharks is presented on new data.
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