Berivotra [PROXY] (Cretaceous of Madagascar)

Also known as Main Road A.P. 4

Where: Mahajanga, Madagascar (15.9° S, 46.6° E: paleocoordinates 30.1° S, 38.4° E)

• coordinate stated in text

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Berivotra Formation, Maastrichtian (72.1 - 66.0 Ma)

Environment/lithology: marine; lithified claystone

• The Berivotra represents a marine transgression and

•consists of yellowish grey to pale olive claystones

•deposited in a marine shelf setting, as indicated by

•marine invertebrates including brachiopods, bryozoa,

•echinoids, and bivalve and gastropod mollusks

•(Rogers et al., 2000), along with the sharks and rays

•and rare bony fish elements.

Size class: macrofossils

Collected in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 1999; reposited in the UCMP

Collection methods: bulk, sieve

• These were

•organized as joint endeavours of the University of

•Antananarivo, Madagascar, and Stony Brook

•University, New York.

•These specimens are currently

•housed at Stony Brook University as a study collection,

•and will be catalogued and deposited in the

•collections at the University of Antananarivo (UA),

•and the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH

•PF).

•Many shark and ray teeth were collected by surface

•prospecting on outcrops of the Berivotra Formation,

•which is readily distinguished by its yellowish grey to

•pale olive colour, as opposed to the white and green

•fluvial sandstones that form the upper 15–20 m of

•the underlying Maevarano Formation. Additional

•specimens were recovered (by JAR and LLR) by

•sieving, using a mesh size down to 2 mm, and by

•picking fossiliferous concentrate under a microscope.

•Drawings of specimens were made using a camera

•lucida attachment on a Leica MZ8 stereoscopic

•binocular zoom microscope.

Primary reference: M. D. Gottfried, J. A. Rabarison, and L. L. Randriamiarimanana. 2001. Late Cretaceous elasmobranchs from the Mahajanga Basin of Madagascar. Cretaceous Research 22:491-496 [M. Bell/M. Bell/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 144918: authorized by Mark Bell, entered by Mark Bell on 20.05.2013, edited by Jonathan Tennant

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Chondrichthyes
 Myliobatiformes - Myliobatidae
cf. Brachyrhizodus sp. Romer 1942 eagle ray
FMNH PF 15170
 Pristiophoriformes - Pristiophoridae
Pristiophorus sp. Bleeker 1859 saw shark
UA 8674
 Rajiformes - Parapalaeobatidae
Parapalaeobates sp. Weiler 1930 ray
UA 8704
 Lamniformes - Carchariidae
Carcharias sp. Rafinesque 1810 sand shark
UA 8705
 Lamniformes - Serratolamnidae
Serratolamna serrata Agassiz 1838 mackerel shark
FMNH PF 15172
 Lamniformes - Anacoracidae
Squalicorax pristodontus Agassiz 1835 crow shark
UA 8706
Squalicorax kaupi Agassiz 1843 crow shark
FMNH PF 15171
 Lamniformes - Otodontidae
Cretolamna maroccana, "Cretolamna appendiculata" = Cretalamna appendiculata
Cretolamna maroccana mackerel shark
FMNH PF 15173
"Cretolamna appendiculata" = Cretalamna appendiculata Agassiz 1835 mackerel shark
UA 8707
Amphibia
 Salientia -
Beelzebufo ampinga Evans et al. 2008 frog