The Cenomanian ichthyofauna of the continental Wadi Milk Formation in northern Sudan comprises fourteen species of polypterids. They represent seven new species which are referred to five genera. A new Cenomanian species of the Recent genus Polypterus expands the range of this living taxon back to the early Late Cretaceous. The new discoveries both in Niger and Sudan as well as their phylogenetic implications led to the splitting of the genus Sainthilairia Gayet & Meunier, 1996, originally reported from Coniacian-Santonian sediments of In Becetem (Niger), into three genera (Saharichthys, Sainthilairia and Inbecetemia). The Cenomanian polypterids of the Sudan show an extraordinary diversity of this group at the time of their ‘first’ appearance.