''Kawichthys'' was an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of symmoriiform

cartilaginous fish Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class that contains the cartilaginous fishes that have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or ''bony fishes'', which have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue ...

from Upper Pennsylvanian (Late Virgilian stage) deposits of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, United States. ''Kawichthys'' is known from two well preserved three-dimensional neurocrania: the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

KUVP The University of Kansas Natural History Museum is part of the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, a KU designated research center dedicated to the study of the life of the planet. The museum's galleries are in Dyche Hall on the unive ...

152144 is associated with some disturbed and broken postcranial elements, but the braincase is partially crushed, and the

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype nor a syntype). Of ...

KUVP 56340. It was collected from the Douglas Group, between the

Haskell Limestone Haskell limestone is a geological unit name originating in Kansas and used in adjoining states. The unit was named in 1931 by R.C. Moore for the then Haskell Indian Nations University, Haskell Institute in the southeast of Lawrence, Kansas. The na ...

and the lower beds of the overlying Robbins Shale, previously classified as members of the Lawrence Formation or Stranger Formation, but now recognized as members of the extension of the

Cass Limestone Cass may refer to: People and fictional characters * Cass (surname), a list of people * Cass (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Big Cass, ring name of wrestler William Morrissey * Cass, in British band Skunk Anansie * Cass ...

classification into Kansas. It was first named by Alan Pradel, Paul Tafforeau, John G. Maisey and Philippe Janvier in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

is ''Kawichthys moodiei''.

References

Carboniferous sharks Fossil taxa described in 2011 Pennsylvanian fish of North America {{paleo-cartilaginous-fish-stub