Herein, we report an euselachian assemblage from the late Campanian Bearpaw Formation recovered from southern Alberta, Canada. This small yet uniquely diverse fauna includes the northernmost occurrences of Paraorthacodus andersoni, Squalus worlandensis, Odontaspis aculeatus, and Archaeotriakis ornatus within the Western Interior Seaway. It also constitutes the first record of P. andersoni, S. worlandensis, and A. ornatus from Canadian deposits. Moreover, we report the stratigraphically youngest record of Cretoxyrhina mantelli. This assemblage is unique in that all the identifiable euselachian species are either pelagic or benthopelagic but not benthic. This is in stark contrast to the batoid-rich euselachian assemblage of the Lethbridge Coal Zone that immediately underlies the Bearpaw Formation in southern Alberta. We attribute this difference to dysoxic bottom waters during the deposition of the formation, rather than to sampling bias.
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Research Article|
May 26, 2017
A late Campanian euselachian assemblage from the Bearpaw Formation of Alberta, Canada: some notable range extensions
Todd D. Cook;
a
School of Science, Penn State Behrend, 4205 College Drive, Erie, PA 16563, USA.Corresponding author: Todd Cook (email: tdc15@psu.edu).
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Eric Brown;
Eric Brown
a
School of Science, Penn State Behrend, 4205 College Drive, Erie, PA 16563, USA.
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Patricia E. Ralrick;
Patricia E. Ralrick
b
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Drumheller, AB T0J 0Y0, Canada.
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Takuya Konishi
Takuya Konishi
c
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA.
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Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (2017) 54 (9): 973–980.
Article history
received:
31 Dec 2016
accepted:
22 May 2017
first online:
05 Oct 2017
Citation
Todd D. Cook, Eric Brown, Patricia E. Ralrick, Takuya Konishi; A late Campanian euselachian assemblage from the Bearpaw Formation of Alberta, Canada: some notable range extensions. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 2017;; 54 (9): 973–980. doi: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2016-0233
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- Alberta
- Bearpaw Formation
- biogeography
- Campanian
- Canada
- Chondrichthyes
- Chordata
- Cretaceous
- electron microscopy data
- Euselachii
- faunal studies
- lithostratigraphy
- Mesozoic
- morphology
- North America
- Pisces
- SEM data
- taxonomy
- teeth
- upper Campanian
- Upper Cretaceous
- Vertebrata
- Western Canada
- Western Interior
- Western Interior Seaway
- Cretoxyrhina mantelli
- Paraorthacodus andersoni
- Dorothy Alberta
- Odontaspis aculeatus
- Carcharias samhammeri
- Squalus worlandensis
- Meristodonoides montanensis
- Archaeotriakis ornatus
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