Contribution of Eocene sharks and rays from southern France to the history of deep-sea selachians

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.