Very rare chondrichthyan spines from the Famennian (Upper Devonian) of European Russia are referred here to ctenacanthiforms, euselachians and a chondrichthyan group of uncertain systematic position. Ctenacanthus Agassiz, 1837 is recorded from the lower and middle Famennian of the central and north-western parts of the area. Sculptospina makhlaevi Lebedev gen. et sp. nov. originates from the lower Famennian of the Lipetsk Region. The holotype of ‘Ctenacanthus’ jaekeli Gross, 1933 and a new specimen from the upper Famennian of the South Urals are shown to belong to the same taxon, which is transferred to Acondylacanthus St. John and Worthen, 1875. New specimens of Tuberospina nataliae Lebedev, 1995 from the upper Famennian of Central Russia are described in detail. The newly presented material increases our knowledge of the composition of Famennian marine assemblages from the East European Platform. It is suggested that these assemblages may be classified as chondrichthyan-dominated and dipnoan-dominated. Hypothetically, after the end- Devonian Hangenberg extinction event, which affected numerous secondary consumers in vertebrate communities, some chondrichthyan groups could have encroached to take advantage of previously occupied ecological niches. Ctenacanthus, as well as Acondylacanthus and Amelacanthus survived the end-Devonian mass extinction to continue into the Carboniferous.

A sample of late Viséan limestone from the Włodawa IG-4 borehole, east of Lublin, Poland, yielded a piece of a tooth and a few hundred well-preserved scales comparable to those of “Ctenacanthus” costellatus Traquair, 1884 from Glencartholm, Scotland, UK. Most of the scales are typical compound body scales of the ctenacanthid type. Their crowns are composed of several separate odontodes whose distal ends are turned backwards and bases are characterised by concave undersides. In the material, there are also sparse scales with similar crowns but with flat or convex bulbous bases, as well as ornamented plates and single, star-like denticles, probably from the head region. The taxonomic status of “Ctenacanthus” costellatus was analysed and a new generic name for that species, viz. Glencartius gen. nov., is proposed.