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A new species of Cretalamna sensu stricto (Lamniformes, Otodontidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian) of Alabama, USA

J.A. Ebersole & D.J. Ehret, published in PeerJ 6:e4229.

Decades of collecting from exposures of the Upper Cretaceous Tombigbee Sand Member of the Eutaw Formation and Mooreville Chalk in Alabama, USA has produced large numbers of isolated Cretalamna (sensu stricto) teeth. Many of these teeth had formerly been assigned to the extinct Late Cretaceous shark Cretalamna appendiculata (Agassiz, 1843), a taxon that is now considered largely restricted to the Turonian of Europe. Recent studies have shed light on the diversity of Late Cretaceous Cretalamna (s.s.) taxa, and here we recognize a new species from Alabama, Cretalamna bryanti.

(A–E) ALMNH 3322, paratype, upper right anterior tooth in (A) oral, (B) basal, (C) mesial, (D) lingual, and (E) labial views. (F–J) ALMNH 3566, upper right anterior tooth in (F) lingual, (G) labial, (H) mesial, (I) oral, and (J) basal views. (K–O) ALMNH 3935, upper left anterior tooth, large morphology, in (K) oral, (L) basal, (M) mesial, (N) lingual, and (O) labial views. (P–T) ALMNH 9724, lower right anterior tooth in (P) lingual, (Q) labial, (R) mesial, (S) oral, and (T) basal views. Scale bars equal 1.0 cm.

The teeth of C. bryanti sp. nov. appear aligned with the members of the Cretalamna borealis species group, but can be distinguished from these other species by a combination of the following: anterior teeth with a more pronounced and triangular lingual root protuberance, broader triangular cusp, and a taller root relative to the height of the crown; anteriorly situated lateroposterior teeth have a distally inclined or hooked main cusp and more than one pair of lateral cusplets; and lateroposterior teeth have a strong distally hooked main cusp and a root that is largely symmetrical in basal view. At present, C. bryanti sp. nov. is stratigraphically confined to the Santonian/Campanian Dicarinella asymetrica Sigal, 1952 and Globotruncanita elevata Brotzen, 1934 Planktonic Foraminiferal Zones within the Tombigbee Sand Member of the Eutaw Formation and Mooreville Chalk, and teeth have been collected from only four counties in central and western Alabama. The recognition of C. bryanti sp. nov. in Alabama adds to our knowledge on the diversity and distribution of Late Cretaceous otodontids in the region.

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