Sphyrna

Sphyrna Temporal range: Bartonian–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Great hammerhead (S. mokarran)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Division:	Selachii
Order:	Carcharhiniformes
Family:	Sphyrnidae
Genus:	Sphyrna Rafinesque, 1810
Type species
Squalus zygaena Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
CestraciomWalbaum, 1792 CestracionKlein, 1776 CestracionT. N. Gill, 1862 CestracionJ. D. Ogilby, 1916 CestrorhinusBlainville, 1816 MesozygaenaCompagno, 1988 PlatysqualusSwainson, 1839 RenicepsT. N. Gill, 1862 SphyraVan der Hoeven, 1855 SphyrichthysThienemann, 1828 SphyrniasRafinesque, 1815 ZygaenaG. Cuvier, 1816 ZyganaSwainson, 1838 ZygoenaA. Risso, 1827

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Sphyrna is a genus of hammerhead sharks with a cosmopolitan distribution in the world's oceans. Members of Sphyrna have a tendency to inhabit coastal waters along the intertidal zone rather than the open ocean, as their prey such as invertebrates, fish, rays, small crustaceans, and other benthic organisms hide in the sands and sediment along these zones. Members of Sphyrna are also known by synonyms such as Zygaena, Cestracion, and Sphyrichthys. The earliest species described of this genus was Sphyrna zygaena by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, while the latest described member, Sphyrna alleni , was described in 2024.

The genus name comes from the Greek word σφῦραsphyra "hammer", it is also where the family name Sphyrnidae comes from. ^[1]

The earliest known fossil species of Sphyrna is † Sphyrna guinoti from the mid-late Eocene of Tunisia and Egypt. ^[2]

Species

The recognized species in this genus are: ^{[3] [4]}

Extant

• Sphyrna alleni Gonzalez, Postaire, Driggers, Caballero, & Chapman, 2024 (shovelbill shark) ^[5]
• Sphyrna corona (S. Springer, 1940) (scalloped bonnethead)
• Sphyrna gilberti Quattro, Driggers, Grady, Ulrich & M. A. Roberts, 2013 (Carolina hammerhead) ^[4]
• Sphyrna lewini (E. Griffith & C. H. Smith, 1834) (scalloped hammerhead)
• Sphyrna media (S. Springer, 1940) (scoophead)
• Sphyrna mokarran (Rüppell, 1837) (great hammerhead)
• Sphyrna tiburo (Linnaeus, 1758) (bonnethead)
• Sphyrna tudes (Valenciennes, 1822) (smalleye hammerhead)
• Sphyrna zygaena (Linnaeus, 1758) (smooth hammerhead)

Extinct

• † Sphyrna arambourgi (Cappetta, 1970)
• † Sphyrna gibbesii (Hay, 1902)
• † Sphyrna guinoti Adnet et al., 2020 ^[2]
• † Sphyrna integra (Probst, 1878)
• † Sphyrna laevissima (Cope, 1867) (likely synonymous with S. zygaena) ^[2]
• † Sphyrna magna (Cope, 1867)

References

1. Scharpf, Christopher (12 December 2022). "Family SPHYRNIDAE" (PDF). The ETYFish Project. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
2. Adnet, Sylvain; Marivaux, Laurent; Cappetta, Henri; Charruault, Anne-Lise; Mabrouk, Essid El; Jiquel, Suzanne; Ammar, Hayet Khayati; Marandat, Bernard; Marzougui, Wissem; Merzeraud, Gilles; Temani, Rim; Monique, Vianey-Liaud; Tabuce, Rodolphe (2020). "Diversity and renewal of tropical elasmobranchs around the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) in North Africa: New data from the lagoonal deposits of Djebel el Kébar, Central Tunisia". Palaeontologia Electronica. 23 (2): a38. doi:10.26879/1085.
3. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Sphyrna". FishBase . June 2013 version.
4. Quattro, J.M., Driggers, W.B. III, Grady, J.M., Ulrich, G.F. & Roberts, M.A. (2013): Sphyrna gilberti sp. nov., a new hammerhead shark (Carcharhiniformes, Sphyrnidae) from the western Atlantic Ocean. Zootaxa, 3702 (2): 159–178.
5. Gonzalez, C., Postaire, B., Driggers, W., Caballero, S. & Chapman, D. (2024): Sphyrna alleni sp. nov., a new hammerhead shark (Carcharhiniformes, Sphyrnidae) from the Caribbean and the Southwest Atlantic. Zootaxa, 5512 (4): 491–511.