Protosqualus

Protosqualus
Temporal range: 130–66 Ma Barremian to Maastrichtian
Drawing of a Protosqualus argentinensis tooth
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Subdivision: Selachimorpha
Order: Squaliformes
Family: Squalidae
Genus: †Protosqualus
Cappetta, 1977
Type species
†Protosqualus sigei
Cappetta, 1977
Other species
  • †Protosqualus albertsi Thies, 1981[1]
  • †Protosqualus glickmani Averianov, 1997
  • †Protosqualus pachyrhiza Underwood & Mitchell, 1999
  • †Protosqualus barringtonensis Guinot et al., 2013
  • †Protosqualus argentinensis Bogan et al., 2016

Protosqualus ("Primitive Squalus") was a genus of dogfish shark that existed during the Cretaceous. Fossils have been found in Europe (mainly in France, Germany, Lithuania, The United Kingdom and Ukraine), India and South America.[2][3] The type species is Protosqualus sigei, which was found around an Albian aged deposit in France.[4] Some species show some level of heterodonty, for example Protosqualus barringtonensis shows a rather high level of heterodonty within its teeth. The oldest specimens are from the Speeton Clay Formation.[5] Protosqualus teeth are quite common in the Grey Chalk deposit of England.[6] The genus went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, with the last species in the genus being Protosqualus argentinensis from southern Argentina as well as possibly being from earlier deposits in India.

  1. ^ Thies, Detlev (19 August 1981). "Four new species of Neoselachian sharks from the Lower Cretaceous of NW-Germany". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte. 1981 (8): 475–486. doi:10.1127/njgpm/1981/1981/475. ISSN 0028-3630.
  2. ^ "Protosqualus pachyrhiza | Shark-References". shark-references.com. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  3. ^ "†Protosqualus Cappetta 1977 (dogfish shark)". PBDB.org.
  4. ^ Cappetta, Henri (1 January 1977). "Selaciens nouveaux de l'Albien superieur de Wissant (Pas-de-Calais)". Geobios. 10 (6): 967–973. Bibcode:1977Geobi..10..967C. doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(77)80085-5. ISSN 0016-6995.
  5. ^ "Middle B beds, Speeton (Cretaceous of the United Kingdom)". PBDB.org.
  6. ^ "SQUALIFORMES [Dogfish]". discoveringfossils.co.uk.