Scheenstia

Scheenstia is an extinct genus of freshwater and marine ray-finned fish from the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous of Europe. The teeth of this genus are called "toadstones" and were believed to be found in the head of a toad. It is part of a family called the Lepidotidae in the order Lepisosteiformes. It is related to the much better-known Lepidotes.

Scheenstia Temporal range: Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous,
Fossil specimen of S. maximus
Lower jaw with teeth of Scheenstia sp. scale bar = 1 cm
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Lepisosteiformes
Family:	†Lepidotidae
Genus:	†Scheenstia López-Arbarello & Sferco, 2011
Type species
Scheenstia zappi López-Arbarello & Sferco, 2011
Species
†S. mantelli (Agassiz, 1833) †S. laevis (Agassiz, 1837) †S. maximus (Wagner, 1863) †S. decoratus (Wagner, 1863) †S. degenhardti (Branco, 1885) †S. hauchecornei (Wagner, 1863) †S. zappi López-Arbarello & Sferco, 2011 †S. bernissartensis (Traquair, 1911)

Fossil of S. maximus

Appearance

A large fish, Scheenstia, could exceed one meter. It had a robust body and rounded teeth, perfect for squashing hard-bodied animals. It was probably a relatively slow swimmer. The body shape resembles the famous Lepidotes.

Image gallery

Life reconstruction of S. maximus

The teeth of Scheenstia. The teeth were historically known as toadstones.

Related pages

• Lepidotes

Sources

• López-Arbarello, Adriana (2012-07-11). "Phylogenetic Interrelationships of Ginglymodian Fishes (Actinopterygii: Neopterygii)". PLoS ONE. 7 (7): e39370. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039370. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3394768. PMID 22808031.
• Cavin, Lionel; Deesri, Uthumporn; Olive, Sébastien (2020-03-18). "Scheenstia bernissartensis (Actinopterygii: Ginglymodi) from the Early Cretaceous of Bernissart, Belgium, with an appraisal of ginglymodian evolutionary history". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (6): 513–527. doi:10.1080/14772019.2019.1634649. ISSN 1477-2019.