Almascyllium sp.

Vullo, Romain, Cappetta, Henri & Néraudeau, Didier, 2007, New sharks and rays from the Cenomanian and Turonian of Charentes, France, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 52 (1), pp. 99-116 : 104

Almascyllium sp.

Fig. 2A .

Material.—A single isolated tooth crown (UM FBN 1) from Font−de−Benon, Archingeay−Les Nouillers, Lower Cenomanian, base of subunit B1.

Description.—The unique specimen corresponds to a lateral tooth devoid of its root. The crown displays a rather slim and pointed cusp, with clearly concave edges in labial view. We observe a pair of relatively rounded lateral cusplets. The distal one is at right angle to the cusp, whereas the smaller mesial one is separated from the main cusp by a slight notch. The basal edge of the apron is damaged. The ornamentation is reduced to five spaced labial folds and not exceeding the height of the cusplets. The three central folds follow the alignment of the cusp whereas each lateral fold is directed towards the respective cusplet.

Remarks.—This tooth is morphologically very close to that of Almascyllium cheikheliasi (Santonian) illustrated by Cappetta (1980a: 120, fig. 24a–c) in his study on the selachians from the Cretaceous of Lebanon. It differs only from this one by its relatively larger mesial cusplet, as well as by its lower and twice less numerous folds. Bernardez (2002) assigned with doubt a few teeth from the Lower Turonian of the Northern Spain to the genus Almascyllium . Those teeth, devoid of lateral cusplets and showing a practically smooth labial face, clearly differ from the tooth here described. Although the specimen UM FBN 1 might be a parasymphyseal or a lateral tooth of Cantioscyllium displaying a unusual morphology, like those described by Cappetta and Case (1999: pl. 15: 12–?13) from the Upper Cenomanian of Texas, we assign it to Almascyllium sp. because of its rather concave labial face and its salient basal crests parallel to the labial edge of the crown.

Figures

Fig. 2. Teeth of the hemiscylliid Almascyllium Cappetta, 1980a, the ginglymostomatid Cantioscyllium Woodward, 1889, the cretoxyrhinid Archaeolamna Siverson, 1992 and the anacoracid Squalicorax Whitley, 1939 from the Cenomanian and Turonian of Charentes, SW France. A. Almascyllium sp., Font−de−Benon, Lower Cenomanian; labial view of UM FBN 1. B. Cantioscyllium cf. decipiens Woodward, 1889, l’Amas, Upper Cenomanian; labial (B1), and occlusal (B2) views of UM AMA 1. C. Archaeolamna sp., l’Amas, Upper Cenomanian; labial (C1), and lingual (C2) views of UM AMA 2. D. Squalicorax baharijensis Stromer, 1927, Le Mas, Upper Cenomanian; labial (D1), and lingual (D2) views of UM LMS 1. E. Holotype of Squalicorax coquandi sp. nov., Port−des−Barques, basal Turonian; labial (E1), distal (E2), and lingual (E3) views of UM PDB 1. F. Squalicorax cf. intermedius Glückman in Glückman and Shvazhaite, 1971, Le Puits des Insurgés, Upper Cenomanian; labial (F1), mesial (F2), and lingual (F3) views of UM PDI 1.