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Echidnocephalus; Temporal range: Late Campanian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Possible Coniacian and Maastrichtian occurrence
	Fossil of Echidnocephalus troscheli
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Notacanthiformes
Family:	Halosauridae
Genus:	†Echidnocephalus; von der Marck, 1858
Type species
	†Echidnocephalus troscheli; von der Marck, 1858
Species
	†E. troscheli von der Marck, 1858; ?†E. americanus Cockerell, 1919; ?†E. pacificus Cockerell, 1919;

Echidnocephalus (Greek for "Echidna's head") is an extinct genus of prehistoric halosaur known from the Late Cretaceous. It is the earliest known definitive member of the order Notacanthiformes.^[2]

It contains one definitive species known from complete and partial specimens: E. troscheli (=E. tenuicaudus von der Marck, 1858) from the late Campanian-aged Ahlen Formation of Westphalia, Germany.^[3] These body fossils suggest an animal already very similar to modern halosaurs.^[2]

In addition, two disputed species known only from isolated fossil scales very similar to those of modern halosaurs have been described from North America: ?E. americanus Cockerell, 1919 from the Coniacian-aged Mancos Shale of Wyoming and ?E. pacificus Cockerell, 1919 from the Maastrichtian-aged Moreno Formation of California.^[4]^[5]

References

^ Behrensmeyer, A.K.; Turner, A. (2013). "†Echidnocephalus". PalaeoDB. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
^ ^a ^b Near, Thomas J.; Thacker, Christine E. (2024-04-18). "Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65 (1). doi:10.3374/014.065.0101. ISSN 0079-032X.
^ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
^ Professional Paper. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1919.
^ "PBDB Taxon". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-12-16.