Pristiorajea is a defunct

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

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

containing the

sawsharks A sawshark or saw shark is a member of a shark order (Pristiophoriformes ) bearing a unique long, saw-like rostrum (snout or bill) edged with sharp teeth, which they use to slash and disable their prey. There are eight species within the Pristio ...

(Pristiophoriformes) and rays (order

Batoidea Batomorphi is a Division (taxonomy), division of Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous fishes, commonly known as rays, this taxon is also known as the Order (biology), superorder Batoidea, but the 5th edition of ''Fishes of the World'' classifies it as ...

). It is sister to the

Squatiniformes Squatiniformes is an order of sharks belonging to Squalomorphi. It contains only a single living genus '' Squatina'', commonly known as angelsharks. The oldest genus of the order, '' Pseudorhina'' is known from the Late Jurassic of Europe. Three o ...

and shares a common ancestry with the

Squaliformes The Squaliformes are an order of sharks that includes about 126 species in seven families. Members of the order have two dorsal fins, which usually possess spines, they usually have a sharp head, no anal fin or nictitating membrane, and fi ...

. However, phylogenetic evidence supports rays and sharks as being

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

groupings and distinct from one another.

References

Prehistoric cartilaginous fish {{paleo-cartilaginous-fish-stub