New marine vertebrates (elasmobranchs, actinopterygians, reptiles)from the Upper Cretaceous Arabic Platform of SE Turkey

Abstract

Here we describe new marine vertebrate remains, mainly isolated teeth, from the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian) of near Mardin, SE Turkey. This is the first report in this area of ptychodontid sharks (elasmobranchs), enchodontid teleosts (actinopterygians) and mosasaurid squamates (reptiles). The respective taxa Ptychodus cf. mortoni, Enchodus sp., Platecarpus sp. and Mosasaurinae indet. are described. These new data improve our knowledge on early Late Cretaceous marine vertebrate faunas from the Arabic Platform, classically known previously mostly from the Maastrichtian outcrops of Middle-East and Northwestern Africa, and extend the palaeobiogeographical distribution of these taxa into the western part of the Mediterranean Tethys, confirming their cosmopolitan status.