A Late Cretaceous Chimaerid (Chondrichthyes, Holocephali) from Seymour Island, Antarctica

• Published in: Palaeontology
• Main Authors: Stahl, Barbara J., Chatterjee, Sankar
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1999
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica; Seymour Island
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475-4983.00105; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1475-4983.00105; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1475-4983.00105

A chimaerid holocephalian, Chimaera zangerli sp. nov., is described from both palatine tooth plates, two tooth plate fragments, and part of the chondrocranium in a nodule from the Maastrichtian of Antarctica. Possibly the oldest known chimaerid, C. zangerli sp. nov. exhibits a tooth plate which is a morphological intermediate between that of the Jurassic Ganodus and the Oligocene C. rupeliensis . The presence of C. zangerli sp. nov. before the end of the Cretaceous is evidence of the early evolution of the Chimaeridae, considered the most derived of the chimaeroid fishes.