Contribution of Eocene sharks and rays from southern France to the history of deep-sea selachians
Authors
Sylvain Adnet
1Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution (CNRS-UMR 5554) Université Montpellier II, c.c. 064, Place Eugène Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5
Henri Cappetta
1Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution (CNRS-UMR 5554) Université Montpellier II, c.c. 064, Place Eugène Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5
Jozef Reynders
Huidevetterstraat 18, 3530 Houthalen Helchteren
Keywords:
SW France, Eocene, Deep-sea selachians, Fossil re
Abstract
Fossil deep-sea selachians are rare and their diversity underestimated as a consequence of the scarcity of available outcrops of sediments containing them. Here we report a new fossil locality from theMiddle Eocene of southwestern France and give a first synthesis of the deep-sea deposits of this area which have yielded one of the richest fossil selachian faunas ever to have inhabited the continental slope. The fossil records of deep-sea sharks and rays are discussed in the context of these new fossil occurrences, a literature review and the recent phylogenetic hypothesis.
