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Revista mexicana de ciencias geológicas
On-line version ISSN 2007-2902Print version ISSN 1026-8774
Rev. mex. cienc. geol vol.22 n.1 Ciudad de México Apr. 2005
Artículos
Lamnoid vertebrae from the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Cretaceous: lower Turonian), northeastern Mexico
Vértebras de un tiburón lamniforme de la Formación Agua Nueva (Cretácico Superior: Turoniano inferior), noreste de México
1Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo Km. 4.5. Pachuca, Hidalgo. Mexico. blanco@uaeh.reduaeh.mx
2Environmental Science Program and Department of Biological Sciences, DePaul University, 2325 North Clifton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60614, USA.
3Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas 67601, USA
4Departmento de Geología, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, Apartado.Postal 19B, 23080 La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
A partial vertebral series of a lamniform shark (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii) occurred in the “Vallecillo fish Member” of the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Lower Turonian) at Vallecillo, Mexico. Its taxonomic assignment below the ordinal level is tenuous, but the vertebrae closely resemble those of cretoxyrhinid sharks.This report represents the first documentation of a Cretaceous lamniform shark in northeastern Mexico. The shark could have measured slightly over 3 m in total body length. Because the vertebrae are articulated and are three-dimensionally preserved, they are thought to be deposited rather quickly on a soft oceanfloor after decomposition of most of the shark carcass.
Key words: lamniform; shark; vertebral series; Turonian; Vallecillo; Mexico
Una serie de vértebras de la columna vertebral de un tiburón lamniforme (Chondrychthyes: Elasmobrachii) son reportadas en el “Miembro Vallecillo” de la Formación Agua Nueva (Cretácico Superior: Turoniano Inferior), en Vallecillo, México. Aunque su determinación taxonómica no fue realizada a nivel inferior al de Orden, las vértebras semejan aquellas pertenecientes a tiburones cretoxyrhinidos. Este reporte representa la primera documentación en México de un tiburón lamniforme del Cretácico. Este tiburón pudo haber tenido una longitud corporal ligeramente mayor a los 3 m. Debido a que las vértebras están articuladas y preservadas en tres dimensiones, éstas debieron ser depositadas relativamente rápido en un sedimento suave a fluido después de la descomposición de las partes blandas del tiburón.
Palabras clave: lamniformes; tiburón; vértebras; Turoniano; Vallecillo; México
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful with the González family, especially with Don Roberto González for their collaboration during the rescue of this material. Special thanks goes to the following people in Karlsruhe, Germany: Stephan Unrein, Kristian Nikoloski, and René Kastner for the specimen preparation, Volker Grener for processing the photographs. Radiographs in Figure 3 were taken by Charles R. Graham, Jr. (Central Kansas Medical Center, Great Bend, Kansas, USA). We thank Bob Purdy and Luis Espinosa- Arrubarrena for reviewing the manuscript. Financial support was given to the first author by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdients (DAAD, German Academic Exchange Service, Project Number A/98/14172).
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Received: August 11, 2003; Revised: August 28, 2004; Accepted: October 02, 2004
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
