Pycnodonts are a well-known group of neopterygian fossil fishes with an age range from the Late Triassic to the Eocene. In the present work a new genus, Potiguara, is described to acommodate the species from the Potiguar Basin (northeast Brazil) originally described as Coelodus rosadoi and provisonally placed in the genus Ocloedus. Potiguara clearly belongs to the family Pycnodontidae and can be distinguished from Ocloedus by the absence of spines on the dorsal scales, the number of hypochordal elements in the caudal skeleton, and the number of radials in the dorsal and anal fins. The cladistic analysis supports the exclusion of this species from the genus Ocloedus and consequently the creation of the new genus Potiguara.