A previously overlooked, highly diverse early Pleistocene elasmobranch assemblage from southern Taiwan

PeerJ

article

Chia-Yen Lin¹  Chien-Hsiang Lin¹  Kenshu Shimada² 

[1] Biodiversity Research Center;Department of Environmental Science and Studies and Department of Biological Sciences, DePaul University;Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University

关键词: Elasmobranchii;    Niubu;    Teeth;    Liuchungchi Formation;    Rays;    Sharks;    Hemipristis serra;    Carcharodon carcharias;    Subtropical West Pacific;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.14190

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

The Niubu fossil locality in Chiayi County, southern Taiwan is best known for its rich early Pleistocene marine fossils that provide insights into the poorly understood past diversity in the area. The elasmobranch teeth at this locality have been collected for decades by the locals, but have not been formally described and have received little attention. Here, we describe three museum collections of elasmobranch teeth (n = 697) from the Liuchungchi Formation (1.90–1.35 Ma) sampled at the Niubu locality, with an aim of constructing a more comprehensive view of the past fish fauna in the subtropical West Pacific. The assemblage is composed of 20 taxa belonging to nine families and is dominated by Carcharhinus and Carcharodon. The occurrence of †Hemipristis serra is of particular importance because it is the first Pleistocene record in the area. We highlight high numbers of large Carcharodon carcharias teeth in our sample correlating to body lengths exceeding 4 m, along with the diverse fossil elasmobranchs, suggesting that a once rich and thriving marine ecosystem in an inshore to offshore shallow-water environment during the early Pleistocene in Taiwan.

【 授权许可】

CC BY