Mesozoic Biotas of Scandinavia and its Arctic Territories

Scandinavia and its Arctic territories of Svalbard and Greenland represent geographical regions with a long history of Mesozoic palaeontology. However, the last few decades have witnessed a surge of new discoveries. Especially famous are the Triassic and Late Jurassic Lagerstätten of East Greenland and Spitsbergen in the Svalbard Archipelago, together with the Late Cretaceous strata of southern Sweden and the UNESCO World Heritage locality at Stevns Klint in Denmark. The latter records one of the most complete terminal Mesozoic rock successions known globally. Collectively, these deposits encompass the spectrum of Mesozoic biotic evolution, including the explosive radiation of marine faunas after the Permian–Triassic extinction, seminal specialization of amniotes for life in the sea, Late Triassic–Jurassic domination of the land by dinosaurs and the Cretaceous development of modern terrestrial floras and marine ecosystems. This volume, authored by leading experts in the field, encapsulates key aspects of the latest research and will provide a benchmark for future investigations into the Scandinavian Mesozoic world.
Late Cretaceous (Campanian) actinopterygian fishes from the Kristianstad Basin of southern Sweden
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Published:January 01, 2016
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CiteCitation
Mohamad Bazzi, Elisabeth Einarsson, Benjamin P. Kear, 2016. "Late Cretaceous (Campanian) actinopterygian fishes from the Kristianstad Basin of southern Sweden", Mesozoic Biotas of Scandinavia and its Arctic Territories, B. P. Kear, J. Lindgren, J. H. Hurum, J. Milàn, V. Vajda
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Abstract
Although a diverse range of aquatic vertebrates are documented from the Upper Cretaceous (mid-Campanian) marine strata of the Kristianstad Basin in southern Sweden, only chondrichthyans and marine amniotes have been described in detail to date. In contrast, coeval actinopterygians are virtually unreported, yet their remains are extremely abundant at most sampled localities. A comprehensive assessment of these fossils has identified the first Late Cretaceous actinopterygian fauna from the Fennoscandian Shield, incorporating indeterminate lepisosteids, the durophagous pycnodontid Anomoeodus subclavatus, the predatory pachycormid Protosphyraena sp., a large ichthyodectid, pachyrhizodontids resembling Pachyrhizodus, the enchodontid Enchodus cf. gladiolus and indeterminate small teleosts. These taxa are diagnosed mainly from isolated teeth and scales, implying substantial taphonomic loss prior to burial. Moreover, the prolific recovery of actinopterygian skeletal remnants in recent excavations suggests that historical collecting biases, rather than ecological paucity, have contributed to their under-representation in the Swedish Cretaceous record. Palaeobiogeographically, the Kristianstad Basin actinopterygians show compositional resemblance to assemblages from the Northern European Platform and the Western Interior Seaway of North America, advocating distributional communication across the Boreal proto-Atlantic Ocean.
- Actinopterygii
- assemblages
- biogeography
- biostratigraphy
- Campanian
- Chordata
- Cretaceous
- dentition
- Europe
- fish scales
- fossil localities
- fossils
- Kristianstad Sweden
- Mesozoic
- morphology
- Osteichthyes
- paleoecology
- Pisces
- Scandinavia
- Skane Sweden
- Sweden
- taphonomy
- taxonomy
- teeth
- Teleostei
- type specimens
- Upper Cretaceous
- Vertebrata
- Western Europe
- Pachycormidae
- Pycnodontidae
- Protosphyraena
- Ichthyodectidae
- Pachyrhizodus
- Enchodus
- Lepisosteidae
- Anomoeodus
- Pycnodontiformes
- Elopiformes
- Enchodontidae
- Ichthyodectiformes
- Aulopiformes
- Pachycormiformes
- Lepisosteiformes
- Pachyrhizodontidae
- Ignaberga Sweden
- Ivo Klack Sweden
- Ullstorp Sweden
- Balsvik Sweden