What is "paleopsephurus"

Paleopsephurus is an extinct genus of paddlefish in the Acipenseriformes family Polyodontidae. At present the genus contains the single species Paleopsephurus wilsoni.

The genus is known primarily from the Late Cretaceous, Turonian to the Maastrichtian stage, Hell Creek Formation deposits. Paleopsephurus is one of only two known paddlefish genera to have been found in the North American fossil record, with the genus and species Crossopholis magnicaudatus only being described and found in the Early Eocene Green River Formation. A third extinct genus Protopsephurus with the single species Protopsephurus liui was described from China in 1994. Only two modern paddle fish species are known, Polyodon spathula in the Mississippi River System of North America, and the possibly extinct Psephurus gladius in the Yangtze River of China.