Fossil Record 23(2): 117-140, doi: 10.5194/fr-23-117-2020
Two new species of Mennerotodus Zhelezko, 1994 (Chondrichthyes: Lamniformes: Odontaspididae), from the Paleogene of the southeastern United States
expand article infoDavid J. Cicimurri‡, Jun A. Ebersole§, George Martin|
‡ South Carolina State Museum, 301 Gervais Street, Columbia, SC 29201, United States of America§ McWane Science Center, 200 19th Street North, Birmingham, AL 35203, United States of America| independent researcher: 641 Apache Street, Auburn, AL 36830, United States of America
© David J. Cicimurri, Jun A. Ebersole, George Martin.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Cicimurri DJ, Ebersole JA, Martin G (2020) Two new species of Mennerotodus Zhelezko, 1994 (Chondrichthyes: Lamniformes: Odontaspididae), from the Paleogene of the southeastern United States. Fossil Record 23(2): 117-140. https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-23-117-2020
Open Access
Abstract

Mennerotodus Zhelezko, 1994, is an extinct lamniform shark known tooccur in Paleogene strata of the Tethyan region of Asia and Europe. Althoughonly a single species has been named, multiple subspecies have been erectedand used as biostratigraphic tools in Asia. The genus has not been reportedwith confidence outside of the Tethyan region, but we have identified twonew species of Mennerotodus from Paleogene deposits of the southeastern United States.Mennerotodus mackayi sp. nov. is described by teeth occurring in the lower Paleocene (DanianStage) Pine Barren Member of the Clayton Formation of southern Alabama. Amiddle Eocene (Bartonian) species, Mennerotodus parmleyi sp. nov., is based on material occurringin the Clinchfield Formation in central Georgia. The early Paleocene recordcould indicate a North American origin for Mennerotodus relatively soon after the K–Pgevent, with subsequent radiation to other parts of the world. The genus islikely more widely distributed than is currently known, but teeth can easilybe overlooked due to their similarity to other taxa.