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NEOSELACHIAN SHARK AND RAY TEETH FROM THE VALANGINIAN, LOWER CRETACEOUS, OF WĄWAŁ, CENTRAL POLAND
Author(s) -
REES JAN
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
palaeontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1475-4983
pISSN - 0031-0239
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2005.00441.x
Subject(s) - cretaceous , paleontology , fauna , reticulate , geology , taxon , chondrichthyes , biology , zoology , ecology
Valanginian strata at Wąwał in central Poland have yielded the oldest marine neoselachian assemblages from the Cretaceous of Europe. The faunas comprise seven taxa including Heterodontus polonicus sp. nov., an indeterminate orectolobiform, Protolamna sp., Palaeoscyllium sp., Synechodus nitidus , Squatina cranei and Belemnobatis sp. Heterodontus polonicus is recognized primarily by the high amount of reticulate ornamentation on the lower labial side of the anterior teeth. The faunas from Wąwał are numerically dominated by neoselachian genera such as Synechodus , Heterodontus and Belemnobatis that were already well established in the Jurassic. More modern taxa include the oldest recorded occurrence of the true Squatina ‐lineage, and the presence of Protolamna is one of the earliest undoubted lamniform occurrences so far reported.