Paracestracion

{{Short description|Extinct genus of sharks}}

{{automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Early Jurassic-Early Cretaceous,
{{fossilrange|182.7|132.9}}

| image2 = Paracestracion falcifer 2.jpg

| image2_caption = Paracestracion falcifer fossil from Solnhofen, Germany

| image = Paracestracion danieli.png

| image_caption = Holotype specimen of Paracestracion danieli

| taxon = Paracestracion

| authority = Koken in Zittel, 1911

| type_species = {{extinct}}Paracestracion falcifer

| type_species_authority = Koken, 1911 vide Wagner, 1858

| subdivision_ranks = Other species

| subdivision = *†P. bellis Underwood & Ward, 2004C. J. Underwood and D. J. Ward. (2004). Neoselachian sharks and rays from the British Bathonian (Middle Jurassic). Palaeontology 47(3):447-501

• {{extinct}}P. danieli Slater, 2016
• †P. pectinatus Guinot et al., 2014{{aut|Guinot, G.}}; {{aut|Cappetta, H.}}; {{aut|Adnet, S.}} (2014): A rare elasmobranch assemblage from the Valanginian (Lower Cretaceous) of southern France. Cretaceous research 48: 54–84. {{doi|10.1016/j.cretres.2013.11.014}}
• †P. sarstedtensis Thies, 1983
• †P. viohli Kriwet, 2008J. Kriwet. (2008). A new species of extinct bullhead sharks, Paracestracion viohli sp. nov. (Neoselachii, Heterodontiformes), from the Upper Jurassic of South Germany. Acta Geologica Polonica 58(2):235-241

| synonyms = *Cestracion falcifer Wagner, 1857

• Heterodontus sarstedtensis (Thies, 1983)

}}

Paracestracion is an extinct genus of heterodontiform sharks from Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous-aged rocks of England, France, Germany and Luxembourg. The genus was first described in 1911 by Ernst Hermann Friedrich von Koken in Karl Alfred von Zittel.Zittel, K. A., (1911): Grundzüge der Paläontologie (Paläozoologie). Neubearbeitet von F. Broili, E. Koken, M. Schlosser. II. Abteilung. Vertebrata. Oldenbourg 1911. Zweite vermehrte und verbesserte Auflage. Gr.8°. VII, 598 S.

The genus contains several Late Jurassic species known from well preserved full body remains, which show that it differs from the living bullhead sharks in the placement of the pelvic girdle and fins, as well as by having a shorter skull.{{Cite journal |last1=Slater |first1=Tiffany S. |last2=Ashbrook |first2=Kate |last3=Kriwet |first3=Jürgen |date=August 2020 |editor-last=Cavin |editor-first=Lionel |title=Evolutionary relationships among bullhead sharks (Chondrichthyes, Heterodontiformes) |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spp2.1299 |journal=Papers in Palaeontology |language=en |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=425–437 |bibcode=2020PPal....6..425S |doi=10.1002/spp2.1299 |issn=2056-2799 |s2cid=214133104 |hdl=10468/10339|hdl-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Villalobos-Segura |first1=Eduardo |last2=Stumpf |first2=Sebastian |last3=Türtscher |first3=Julia |last4=Jambura |first4=Patrick |last5=Begat |first5=Arnaud |last6=López-Romero |first6=Faviel |last7=Fischer |first7=Jan |last8=Kriwet |first8=Jürgen |date=2023-03-08 |title=A Synoptic Review of the Cartilaginous Fishes (Chondrichthyes: Holocephali, Elasmobranchii) from the Upper Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätten of Southern Germany: Taxonomy, Diversity, and Faunal Relationships |journal=Diversity |language=en |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=386 |doi=10.3390/d15030386 |issn=1424-2818 |pmc=7614348 |pmid=36950327 |doi-access=free }}