Platylithophycus

Platylithophycus
Temporal range: Coniacian-Campanian
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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Genus: †Platylithophycus
Johnson & Howell, 1948[1]
Species:
†P. cretaceus
Binomial name
†Platylithophycus cretaceus
Johnson & Howell, 1948

Platylithophycus is an extinct genus of elasmobranchs that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It is known from a single specimen from the Niobrara Formation of Kansas, United States. It was originally identified as the fronds of a codiacean alga, then later as the cuttlebone of a cuttlefish.[1][2] It was most recently reidentified as the gill arches and rakers of an elasmobranch of uncertain affinities.[3] It might have been a filter feeding mackerel shark related to Aquilolamna.[4]

  1. ^ a b Johnson, J.H.; Howell, B.F. (1948). "A new Cretaceous calcareous alga from Kansas". Journal of Paleontology. 22 (5): 632–633. JSTOR 1299601.
  2. ^ Miller, H.W.; Walker, M.V. (1968). "Enchoteuthis melanae and Kansasteuthis lindneri, new genera and species of teuthids, and a sepiid from the Niobrara Formation of Kansas". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. 71 (2): 176–183. doi:10.2307/3627369. JSTOR 3627369.
  3. ^ Bronson, A.W.; Maisey, J.G. (2018). "Resolving the identity of Platylithophycus, an enigmatic fossil from the Niobrara Chalk (Upper Cretaceous, Coniacian–Campanian)". Journal of Paleontology. 92 (4): 743–750. Bibcode:2018JPal...92..743B. doi:10.1017/jpa.2018.14. S2CID 135179588.
  4. ^ Vullo, R.; Frey, E.; Ifrim, C.; González González, M.A.; Stinnesbeck, E.S.; Stinnesbeck, W. (2021). "Manta-like planktivorous sharks in Late Cretaceous oceans" (PDF). Science. 371 (6535): 1253–1256. Bibcode:2021Sci...371.1253V. doi:10.1126/science.abc1490. PMID 33737486. S2CID 232271254.