The nominal species Mosasaurus ivoensis from the latest early Campanian of the Kristianstad Basin in southern Sweden, is redescribed and assigned to the tylosaurine genus Tylosaurus on the basis of its dental and vertebral morphology. A partial skeleton (KUVP 1024) from the late Coniacian to earliest Campanian Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Formation in western Kansas, USA, was previously referred to “M”. ivoensis. Nevertheless, its marginal teeth are markedly different, both in size and morphology, from those of topotypic T. ivoensis.Examination of type specimens and topotypic material of the nominal tylosaurines Hainosaurus pembinensis from the late early Campanian of Manitoba, Canada, H. gaudryi from the late Santonian or early Campanian of northwestern France, and H. lonzeensis from the Coniacian or Santonian of Belgium, indicates that all three may be Tylosaurus.The utility of isolated tooth-crowns in mosasaur taxonomy has been hampered by the often poor quality of the published illustrations of these fossils in combination with poor stratigraphic control. All Swedish remains of T. ivoensis, including 172 marginal teeth, 6 pterygoid teeth, several jawbone fragments and 12 vertebrae, were collected from a narrow stratigraphic interval corresponding to the highest biozone in the German eight-fold division of the early Campanian, providing the first good insight into the intraspecific dental variation in a tylosaurine mosasaur.
An association of 100 teeth and 15 vertebrae from a large, lamniform shark, is described from the uppermost part of the Gearle Siltstone in the Giralia Anticline, Southern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia. The material represents a new genus and species: Cardabiodon ricki. The taxon is referred to the new family Cardabiodontidae on the basis of its dental formula and uniquely oversized lower lateroposterior teeth. Other characteristic features include a strong dignathic heterodonty and the presence of four anterior and approximately 14 lateroposterior toothfiles in both the upper and lower jaw. The size of the recovered vertebral centra indicates that the shark measured at least 5 m in total length. The species had a wide but possibly patchy distribution with additional occurrences in England and Kazakstan, where it is present in strata of Cenomanian age. Cardabiodon shares several key dental characters with Parotodus, known from Oligocene–Pliocene deposits. The latter taxon was previously grouped with the ‘mega-toothed’ sharks of the genera Otodus and Carcharocles, but is here reassigned to the Cardabiodontidae.The nominal species Cretalamna woodwardi from the middle or late Cenomanian of southern England, is designated as the type species of the new genus Dwardius. The coeval nominal species Pseudoisurus tomosus from the Saratov region in Russia, is based on material that almost certainly includes C. ricki and/or D. woodwardi. Designation of a lectotype for P. tomosus and its proper documentation would probably allow either C. ricki or D. woodwardi to be synonomised with the older name P. tomosus. There is, however, a strong possibility that the syntypes of P. tomosus are lost. Until they are found, redescribed and compared carefully with the type material of C. ricki and D. woodwardi, P. tomosus is a name of doubtful application and therefore referred to as a women dubium
Recent collecting from the Pawpaw Shale in northeast Texas has yielded several hundred teeth of anacoracid sharks. The material allows for a much-needed revision of the Late Albian anacoracids from North America. The previously recognized Squalicorax sp., also referred to as S. volgensis in more recent publications, is a mix of two different species: S. priscoserratus sp. nov. and S. pawpawensis sp. nov. In addition to these two new species, a single tooth is assigned to S. aff. S. baharijensis. Our data indicate that anacoracids were a considerably more diverse group in the North American Cretaceous than previously thought. We attribute much of the underestimation of diversity to vague species concepts, poor preparation techniques and the associated lack of attention to certain dental features, in particular neck morphology, root surface porosity and the root's vascularization.
Shallow marine, nearshore strata of earliest Campanian (Gonioteuthis granulataquadrata belemnite Zone) and latest Early Campanian (informal Belemnellocamax mammillatus belemnite zone) age in the Kristianstad Basin, southern Sweden, have yielded isolated leptoceratopsid teeth and vertebrae, representing the first record of horned dinosaurs from Europe. The new leptoceratopsid occurrence may support a European dispersal route for the Leptoceratopsidae, or may represent an entirely endemic population. The presence of leptoceratopsid teeth in shallow marine deposits contradicts previous hypotheses suggesting that basal neoceratopsians mainly preferred arid and ⁄ or semi-arid habitats far from coastal areas.
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