Tooth Plates of Ceratodus (Dipnoi, Ceratodontidae) from the Upper Jurassic Shaximiao Formation of Guang'an, Sichuan Province, China

Abstract

AbstractCeratodus is a form genus of ceratodontid lungfishes. Until now, only 14 specimens have been reported from the Mesozoic of China. Detailed measurements and characteristic comparisons based on 15 well‐preserved lungfish tooth plates of Ceratodus type, uncovered from the upper member of the Upper Jurassic Shaximiao Formation at Luojiashan, Qianfeng District, Guang'an, Sichuan Province in 2019, allow us to establish a new species, Ceratodus guanganensis sp. nov., on the basis of its small swollen irregular triangular tooth plate with four low and swollen radial crests on the occlusal surface without denticles. Other specimens from the same locality can be referred to C. szechuanensis and C. youngi. This is the first discovery of Ceratodus in the Guang'an region and represents the fifth Ceratodus fossil site in the Sichuan Basin. The discovery indicates that the climate was hot and arid in the Sichuan Basin during the Late Jurassic, and reveals a tectonic paleogeographic relationship between the Yangtze block in southwestern China and the Kola Basin in northern Thailand.