Thresher shark
| Thresher shark Temporal range: 49–0 Ma Lutetian to Recent |
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| Pelagic thresher (A. pelagicus) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Superorder: | Selachimorpha |
| Order: | Lamniformes |
| Family: |
Alopiidae Bonaparte, 1838 |
| Genus: |
Alopias Rafinesque, 1810 |
| Type species | |
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Alopias macrourus Rafinesque, 1810 |
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| Synonyms | |
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 Stunning tail: Thresher sharks evolved to slap and kill their prey – NBC News
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Thresher sharks are large lamniform sharks of the family Alopiidae found in all temperate and tropical oceans of the world; the family contains four species, all within the genus Alopias.
The genus and family name derive from the Greek word alopex, meaning fox. As a result, the long-tailed or common thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus, is also known as the fox shark. The common name is derived from a distinctive, thresher-like tail or caudal fin which can be as long as the body of the shark itself.
The three extant thresher shark species are all in the genus Alopias. The possible existence of a hitherto unrecognized fourth species was revealed during the course of a 1995 allozyme analysis by Blaise Eitner. This species is apparently found in the eastern Pacific off Baja California, and has previously been misidentified as the bigeye thresher. So far, it is only known from muscle samples from one specimen, and no aspect of its morphology has been documented.
Megachasmidae
A. vulpinus
undescribed Alopias sp.
A. superciliosus
A. pelagicus
Cetorhinidae
Lamnidae
Based on genes, Martin and Naylor (1997) concluded the thresher sharks form a monophyletic sister group to the clade containing the families Cetorhinidae (basking shark) and Lamnidae (mackerel sharks). The megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) was placed as the next-closest relative to these taxa, though the phylogenetic position of that species has yet to be resolved with confidence. Cladistic analyses by Compagno (1991) based on morphological characters, and Shimada (2005) based on dentition, have both corroborated this interpretation.
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Wikipedia