Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T18:29:40.669Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A new species of Bransonella (Chondrichthyes, Xenacanthimorpha, Bransonelliformes) from the Middle Permian Kaibab Formation of northern Arizona

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

David K. Elliott  and
John-Paul M. Hodnett
David K. Elliott
Affiliation:
Geology Program, SESES, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-4099, USA,
John-Paul M. Hodnett
Affiliation:
13008 Arctic Ave., Rockville, Maryland 20853, USA,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Isolated teeth from the Middle Permian (early Guadalupian) Kaibab Formation of Arizona are described as a new species of the xenacanth shark genus Bransonella. Bransonella tribula n. sp. is a small tooth in which the intermediate cusp is 65% of the length of the principal cusps and the cristae on the labial face extend down over the base, covering it, and bifurcating to form distinctive double crested ridges. Fin spines from the same localities in the Kaibab Formation show the characteristic xenacanth feature of a double row of large thorn-like denticles along the posterior margin. Bransonella tribula n. sp. is the only xenacanth shark known from the Kaibab Formation at present, however, due to the lack of articulated material the fin spines are attributed to ?Bransonella tribula n. sp. The ecomorphology of Bransonella suggests a primitive, small, gracile, marine xenacanth that fed near the sea floor like the modern catsharks (Scyliorhinidae).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 87 , Issue 6 , November 2013 , pp. 1136 - 1142
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Behan, C., Walkden, G., and Cuny, G. 2012. A Carboniferous chondrichthyan assemblage from residues within a Triassic karst system at Cromhall Quarry, Gloucestershire, England. Palaeontology, 55:1245–1263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brezinski, D. K. 1991. Permian trilobites from the San Andres Formation, New Mexico, and their relationship to species from the Kaibab Formation of Arizona. Journal of Paleontology, 65:480–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrow, C. J., Turner, S., and Young, G. C. 2010. Middle Paleozoic microvertebrate assemblages and biogeography of East Gondwana (Australasia, Antarctica). Palaeoworld, 19:37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Compagno, L. J. V. 1990. Alternative life-history styles of cartilaginous fishes in time and space. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 28:35–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
David, L. R. 1944. A Permian shark from the Grand Canyon. Journal of Paleontology, 18:90–93.Google Scholar
Derycke, C., Ivanov, A., and Weber, H. M. 2005. Late Visean vertebrate assemblage from Belgium. Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication, 8:7–8.Google Scholar
Dick, J. R. F. 1981. Diplodoselache woodi gen. et. sp. nov., an early Carboniferous shark from the Midland Valley of Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Earth Sciences, 72:99–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffin, C. J. and Ginter, M. 2006. Comments on the selachian genus Cladodus Agassiz, 1843. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 26:253–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffin, C. J., Richter, M., and Neis, P. A. 1996. Shark remains from the Late Carboniferous of the Amazon Basin, Brazil. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie monatshefte, 1996:232–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, D. K. and Blakey, R. C. 2005. The Paleozoic vertebrates of Arizona, p. 1–17. InMcCord, R. D.(ed.), Vertebrate Paleontology of Arizona. Mesa Southwest Museum Bulletin 11.Google Scholar
Ginter, M., Hampe, O., and Duffin, C. J. 2010. Chondrichthyes Paleozoic Elasmobranchii: Teeth. InSchultze, H.-P.(ed.), Handbook of Paleoichthyology, vol. 3D.Google Scholar
Hampe, O. 1997. Zur funktionellen Deutung des Dorsalstachels und der Placoidshuppen der Xenacanthida (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii; Unterperm). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen, 206:29–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hampe, O. 2003. Revision of the Xenacanthida (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii) from the Carboniferous of the British Isles. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Earth Sciences, 93:191–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hampe, O. and Ivanov, A. 2007. Bransonelliformes—a new order of Xenacanthimorpha (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii). Fossil Record, 10:190–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, M. C. 1986. Microscopic chondrichthyan remains from Pennsylvanian marine rocks of Ohio and adjacent areas. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus.Google Scholar
Harlton, B. H. 1933. Micropaleontology of the Pennsylvanian Johns Valley Shale of the Ouachita Mountains, Oklahoma, and its relationship to the Mississippian Caney Shale. Journal of Paleontology, 7:3–29.Google Scholar
Hodnett, J-P., Elliott, D. K., Olson, T. J., and Wittke, J. H. 2012. Ctenacanthiform sharks from the Permian Kaibab Formation, northern Arizona. Historical Biology, 24 (4):1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodnett, J-P., Elliott, D. K., and Olson, T. J. 2013. A new basal hybodont (Chondrichthyes, Hybodontiformes) from the Middle Permian (Roadian) Kaibab Formation, of northern Arizona. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 60:103–108.Google Scholar
Hopkins, R. L. and Thompson, K. L. 2003. Kaibab Formation, p. 196–211. InBeus, S. S., and Morales, M.(eds.), Grand Canyon Geology. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Hussakof, L. 1943. Permian fishes from the Kaibab Formation of Arizona. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 54:1834.Google Scholar
Ivanov, A. and Ginter, M. 1996. Early Carboniferous xenacanthids (Chondrichthyes) from eastern Europe. Bulletin de la Société géologique de France, 167:651–656.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. D. 1984. A new species of Xenacanthodii (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii) from the Late Pennsylvanian of Nebraska, p. 178–186. InMengel, R. M.(ed.), Papers in Vertebrate Paleontology honoring Robert Warren Wilson. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 9.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. D. and Thayer, D. W. 2009. Early Pennsylvanian xenacanth chondrichthyans from the Swisshelm Mountains, Arizona, U.S.A. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 54:649–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, G. D. and Zidek, J. 1981. Late Paleozoic phyllodont tooth plates. Journal of Paleontology, 55:524–536.Google Scholar
Kozur, H. 1984. Biostratigraphic evaluation of the upper Paleozoic conodonts, ostracods, and holothurian sclerites of the Bükk Mts. Part I: Carboniferous conodonts and holothurian sclerites. Acta Geologica Hungarica, 27:143–162.Google Scholar
Kriwet, J., Witzmann, F., Klug, S., and Heidtke, U. H. J. 2008. First direct evidence of a vertebrate three-level trophic chain in the fossil record. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 257:181–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebedev, O. A. 2001. Vertebrates, p. 92–104. InAlekseev, A. S. and Shik, S. M.(eds.), Middle Carboniferous of Moscow Syneclise (Southern Part), Volume 2: Paleontology. Publisher, City.Google Scholar
McKee, E. D. 1938. The environment and history of the Toroweap and Kaibab formations of northern Arizona and southern Utah. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 492 , p. 1–268.Google Scholar
Norton, A. K. 1990. Depositional environments, digenesis, and stratigraphic relationship of the Kaibab and San Andres Formations (Permian) of Navajo and Apache Counties, Arizona. Unpublished MS thesis,Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.Google Scholar
Nelson, J. S. 1976. Fishes of the World. Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Ossian, C. R. 1976. Redescription of Megactenopetalus kaibabanus David 1944 (Chondrichthyes: Petalodontidae), with comments on its geographic and stratigraphic distribution. Journal of Paleontology, 50:392–397.Google Scholar
Rodina, O. A. and Ivanov, A. O. 2002. Chondrichthyans from the Lower Carboniferous of Kusnetsk Basin, p. 263–268. InChuvashov, B. I.(ed.), Stratigrafiya i Paleogeographiya Karbona. Evrazii: Ekaterinburg.Google Scholar
Schneider, J. W. 1996. Xenacanth teeth—a key for taxonomy and biostratigraphy. Modern Geology, 20:321–340.Google Scholar
Schultze, H.-P. 1985. Marine to onshore vertebrates in the Lower Permian of Kansas and their paleoenvironmental implications. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, 113:1–18.Google Scholar
Soler-Gijón, R. 1995. Evidence of predator-prey relationship in xenacanth sharks of the upper Carboniferous (Stephanian C) from Puertollan, Spain. Geobios, 19:151–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soler-Gijón, R. 1999. Occipital spines of Orthacanthus (Xenacanthidae, Elasmobranchii): structure and growth. Journal of Morphology, 242:1–45.3.0.CO;2-9>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sonnenfeld, M. D. 1993. Anatomy of offlap: Upper San Andres Formation (Permian, Guadalupian), Last Chance Canyon, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, p. 195–203. InLove, D. W., Hawley, J. W., Kues, B. S., Adams, J. W., Austin, G. S., and Barker, J. M.(eds.), New Mexico Geology Society Guidebook, 44th Field Conference, Carlsbad Region, New Mexico and West Texas.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorauf, J. E. and Billingsley, G. H. 1991. Members of the Toroweap and Kaibab formations, lower Permian, northern Arizona and southwestern Utah. The Mountain Geologist, 28:9–24.Google Scholar
Thompson, K. L. 1995. Paleoecology and biostratigraphy of the Fossil Mountain member, Kaibab Formation, in northwestern Arizona. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis,Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.Google Scholar
Turner, S. and Burrow, C. J. 2011. A Lower Carboniferous xenacanthiform shark from Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 31:241–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tway, L. E. and Zidek, J. 1983. Catalog of late Pennsylvanian ichthyoliths, Part II. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2:414–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, N-Z., Jin, F., and Wang, W. 2004. Early Carboniferous fishes (Acanthodian, Actinopterygians and Chondrichthyes) from the east sector of North Qilian Mountain, China: Carboniferous fish sequence from the east sector of North Qilian Mountain (1). Vertebrata Palasiatica, 42:89–110.Google Scholar