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| Pochitaserra patriciacanalae Dasyatis manuelcamposi Villafaña, Campos-Medina, Chávez-Hoffmeister, S. Araya, B. Araya, Ledezma, Hernandez, Ramos-Rojas, Bolomey, Tejo, Vera, Campoy, Arotaipe, Bugueño, Antiquera & Rivadeneira, 2025 |
Abstract
The fossil record of chondrichthyans from the Pacific coast of South America is rich and diverse, with the Bahía Inglesa Formation distinguished as one of the most important in the region. Despite the extensive fossil record of cartilaginous fish in the Bahía Inglesa Formation, studies focused on microremains of this group of fish are non-existent. This study describes for the first time a new locality of fossil microremains from the Upper Miocene of northern Chile. Over 300 kg of sediment was extracted at the study locality to examine and identify chondrichthyan fossils smaller than 1 cm. Here, 19 chondrichthyan taxa from the Upper Miocene of Bahía Inglesa are reported: five were identified at the species level, seven at the genus level, three at the family level, and four at the superorder level. Notably, this includes the first record of Sympterygia for the Americas, the first record of Dipturus for the Neogene, and the first mention of Rhinobatos for the Neogene of South America. At the species level, the first description of the basking shark Cetorhinus maximus for South America and the leopard shark Triakis semifasciata in any locality worldwide is provided. Additionally, a new species of ray from the genus Dasyatis and a new genus and species of sawshark from the family Pristiophoridae are proposed. In this research we present the largest number of chondrichthyan microremains collected and described from fossiliferous localities in Chile.
Keywords: shark, ray, teeth, Neogene, Bahía Inglesa, Chile
Dasyatis manuelcamposi sp. nov.
Pochitaserra gen. nov.
Pochitaserra patriciacanalae gen. et sp. nov.
Jaime A. Villafaña, Jorge Campos-Medina, Martín F. Chávez-Hoffmeister, Selene Araya, Benjamin Araya, Leandro Ledezma, Yusse Hernandez, Héctor A. Ramos-Rojas, Jorge Bolomey, Matias Tejo, Francisca Vera, Ana N. Campoy, Rosmery Arotaipe, Yara Bugueño, Bianca Antiquera, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira. 2025. Diving into the Past: A New Assemblage of Neogene elasmobranch Microfossils from the eastern Pacific of South America. Papers in Palaeontology. DOI: doi.org/10.1002/spp2.70043 [07 November 2025]
