A New Callorhinchid Genus (Holocephali, Chimaeroidei) from the Early Bajocian of Ottange-Rumelange, on the Luxembourg-French Border

Abstract

An incomplete chimaeroid (Holocephali, Chimaeroidei) mandibular dental plate from the early Bajocian (Humphriesianum Zone) of Ottange-Rumelange, on the Luxembourg-French border, is described as a new genus and species of callorhinchid fish Ottangodus lotharingiae gen. et sp. nov. Comparison of the described plate with other Jurassic chimaeriform fish (both myricanthid and chimaeroid) mandibular plates shows relationships with callorhinchids and in turn close relationships with the genus Pachymylus Woodward, known from the Callovian of England. The plate of the new genus shows a set of primitive characters for chimaeroids (very high descending lamina, low oral part of the plate, large centrally placed median tritor occupying most of the oral part of the plate and an absence of mesio-labial system of the tritors) and could thus belong to a basal Chimaeroidei taxon. This is the first record of the Chimaeroidei from the Jurassic of Lorraine and the fourth chimaeriform genus known from the Mesozoic of the region.