New selachian assemblages from the Oligocene of Moravia (Czech Republic)

Abstract

The Oligocene selachian fauna of the Menilitic Formation (Oligocene) of the Carpathians is reviewed in the light of new material coming from the province of Moravia (Eastern Czech Republic). Several species previously described on the basis of incomplete teeth are here represented by wellpreserved and more numerous specimens and allows to rectify the systematics of several taxa previously recovered in the sediments of this Oligocene western Paratethys sea. The cetorhinid specimens of the species parvus, previously assigned to the genus Cetorhinus, are now assigned to the genus Keasius Welton, 2013. Its teeth are described for the first time from the Carpathian Flysch. Besides already published species, this new material includes taxa previously unknown in the Menilitic Formation, as Chlamydoselachus sp. and Echinorhinus schoenfeldi. The elasmobranch fauna, characterized by the complete absence of batoids, confirms the deep-water environment that prevailed during the deposition of the Menilitic Formation.