little sleeper shark
Somniosus rostratus (Risso, 1827)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The little sleeper shark (Somniosus rostratus) is a small sleeper shark of the family Somniosidae found in the northeast Atlantic, western Mediterranean, and western Pacific around New Zealand (though these records may be of another species), at depths between 200 and 1,000 m. Its length is up to 1.43 m.
Wikipedia contributors, Little sleeper shark; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:02:57.414667+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Somniosus rostratus (Risso, 1827)
- Name authority
- (Risso, 1827)
- Common name
- little sleeper shark
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Squaliformes
- Family
- Somniosidae
- Genus
- Somniosus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumChondrichthyes
- classElasmobranchii
- subclassNeoselachii
- infraclassSelachii
- superorderSqualomorphi
- orderSqualiformes Compagno, 1973
- familySomniosidae Jordan, 1888
- genusSomniosus Lesueur, 1818
- speciesSomniosus rostratus (Risso, 1827)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Somniosus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Pacific sleeper sharkSomniosus pacificus Bigelow & Schroeder, 1944 | SomniosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Somniosus antarcticus Whitley, 1939 | SomniosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Somniosus longus (Tanaka, 1912) | SomniosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Greenland sharkSomniosus microcephalus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | SomniosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Somniosus bauchotae Quéro, 1976 Quéro, 1976 | synonym |
| Scymnus rostratus Risso, 1827 Risso, 1827 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105920 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4Y8YN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.