WAPITIODIDAE, Mutter & Blanger & Neuman, 2007

Mutter, Raoul J., Blanger, Keith De & Neuman, Andrew G., 2007, Elasmobranchs from the Lower Triassic Sulphur Mountain Formation near Wapiti Lake (BC, Canada), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149 (3), pp. 309-337 : 313

FAMILY WAPITIODIDAE FAM. NOV.

GENUS WAPITIODUS GEN. NOV.

Etymology: Derived from ‘Wapiti Lake’: the name of the lake near the locality.

Diagnosis: Sharks ranging from small to medium size, with body proportions ranging from slender to stout: body either short and robust or slender/elongate; two relatively slender dorsal fin spines; gently curved lateral walls with large, stellate and apically flat tubercles; broad anterior fin spine; breadth of the posterior fin spine subject to individual variation; posterior wall either not vaulted or convex, probably devoid of denticles along posterior wall; spine inserted deeply between neural processes; pectoral fin probably simple with large metapterygium; ceratotrichia that consist of at least two series of tapering, finger-shaped elements in a hand-like arrangement; first dorsal fin probably devoid of radials; second dorsal fin with one series of about eight radials, possibly branched; anal fin deep and short; skeletal support in lower half of upper lobe of caudal fin consisting of at least 30 short, bar-shaped elements; dentition between moderately and strongly heterodont with five anterior tooth files that are unicuspid; cusp centrally located, symmetrical, with either tiny or no lateral cusplets; ornamentation with conspicuous longitudinal crest, consisting of dense and fine ridges originating from the crown– root junction and ascending the crown; posterior teeth lower and wider than anterior ones; cusp either much reduced or absent with no lateral cusplets; ornamentation of all teeth consisting of sparse and coarse ridges originating from cusps and terminating at the crown–root junction, ridges bifurcating; a root of either equal or greater depth than crown; labial protrusion (peg) either poorly defined or absent; lingual protrusion (peg) prominent in W. homalorhizo sp. nov.