A rare window into a back-reef fish community from the middle Miocene (late Badenian) Medobory Hills barrier reef in western Ukraine, reconstructed mostly by means of otoliths
Author
Schwarzhans, Werner
Natural History Museum of Denmark, Zoological Museum, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Author
Klots, Oleksandr
Author
Ryabokon, Tamara
Author
Kovalchuk, Oleksandr
text
Swiss Journal of Palaeontology
2022
18
2022-11-17
141
1
1
35
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13358-022-00261-3
journal article
10.1186/s13358-022-00261-3
1664-2384
11999827
Genus
Dasyatis
Rafinesque, 1810
Dasyatis
sp.
Figure 10f
Material
1 anterior tooth, Mlyntsi,
NMNHU-P
PI
2587.
Description
Te tooth is small and wider than it is high (1.50 vs.
0.90 mm
). A clearly recognizable bulging transverse crest separates the labial and lingual faces in the middle of the crown. Te globular and non-cuspidate crown suggests that the described specimen belongs to a stingray female (
Cappetta, 2012
). Te labial visor is partly broken, and no ornamentation can be observed on the labial face. Te smooth lingual face is divided into two marginal lingual areas by a median lingual ridge. Tere are distinct marginal angles, one of which is more rounded, while the other is sharper. Te convex lingual visor partially overhangs the labial face of the root. Te latter is bilobed; its lobes slightly differ in width and are displaced lingually. Tere is a deep but quite narrow notch separating the lobes and reaching half of the root height. Weakly separated and wide root lobes also indicate that the tooth belongs to a female (
Cappetta, 2012
).
Discussion
Te specimen described shares diagnostic features of the genus
Dasyatis
Rafinesque, 1810
, and differs from representatives of the genus
Taeniurops
Garman, 1913
, in the non-hollowed labial face lacking sharp crests. However, it cannot be attributed to a particular species due to its poor preservation. Te middle Miocene fossil record of stingrays of the genus
Dasyatis
in Europe is represented by
D. delfortriei
Cappetta, 1970
,
D. probsti
Cappetta, 1970
, and
D. rugosa
(Probst, 1877)
, which have been variably reported from the early Badenian of Korytnica,
Poland
(
Schultz, 1977
,
1979
) and from the late Badenian of Weissenegg and Wurzing in
Austria
(
Hilden, 1995
).