The southernmost occurrence of Brachycarcharias (Lamniformes, Odontaspididae) from the Eocene of Antarctica provides new information about the paleobiogeography and paleobiology of Paleogene sand tiger sharks

Autor(en)
Giuseppe Marrama, Andrea Engelbrecht, Thomas Mörs, Marcelo Reguero, Jürgen Kriwet
Abstrakt

The first record of one of the most common and widespread Paleogene selachians, the sand tiger shark Brachycarcharias, in the Ypresian strata of the La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island, Antarctica, is provided herein. Selachians from the early Eocene horizons of this deposit represent the southernmost Paleogene occurrences in the fossil record, and are represented by isolated teeth belonging to orectolobiforms, lamniforms, carcharhiniforms, squatiniforms and pristiophoriforms. The combination of dental characters of the 49 isolated teeth collected from the horizons TELMs 2, 4 and 5 supports their assignment to the odontaspidid Brachycarcharias lerichei (Casier, 1946), a lamniform species widely spread across the Northern Hemisphere during the early Paleogene. The unambiguous first report of this lamniform shark in the Southern Hemisphere in the Eocene of the La Meseta Formation improves our knowledge concerning the diversity and paleobiology of the cartilaginous fishes of this deposit, and provides new insights about the biotic turnovers that involved the high trophic levels of the marine settings after the end-Cretaceous extinction and before the establishment of the modern marine ecosystems.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Paläontologie
Externe Organisation(en)
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Museo de La Plata
Journal
Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia
Band
124
Seiten
283-298
Anzahl der Seiten
15
ISSN
0035-6883
DOI
https://doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/9985
Publikationsdatum
2018
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
105118 Paläontologie
Schlagwörter
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 14 – Leben unter Wasser
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/b5d6dc10-fa23-4673-a902-2a2809ca209d