LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 550 % v. !->> GEOLOGY The person charging this material is re- for its sponsible return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for dlstiplinary attion and may result In dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMF-AIGN L161—O-1096 Q ! )l5<3 i^-? THE VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE SELMA FORMATION OF ALABAMA PART VII THE MOSASAURS DALE A. RUSSELL PART VIII THE FISHES SHELTON P. APPLEGATE s FIELDIANA: GEOLOGY MEMOIRS VOLUME 3, NUMBERS 7 AND 8 Published by FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY FEBRUARY 12, 1970 Geo*. OQy Lib,Mf^ THE VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE SELMA FORMATION OF ALABAMA PART VIII. THE FISHES THE VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE SELMA FORMATION OF ALABAMA PART VIII THE FISHES SHELTON P. APPLECxATE Associate Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History FIELDIANA: GEOLOGY MEMOIRS VOLUME 3, NUMBER 8 Published by FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY FEBRUARY 12, 1970 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 53-2305 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OK AMERICA BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS CONTENTS PAGE Introduction 389 Systematic Descriptions 389 Holocephali 389 Edaphodontidae 389 Edaphodon barberi, new species 390 Edaphodon mirificus Leidy 392 Edaphodon sp 393 Selachii 393 Ptychodontidae 393 Ptychodus polygurus Agassiz 393 Ptychodus mortoni Mantell 393 Anacoracidae 393 Squalicorax falcatus (Agassiz) 393 Squalicorax pristodontus (Agassiz) 395 Pseudocorax affinis (Agassiz) 395 Odontaspididae 395 Scapanorhynchus rhaphiodon (Agassiz) 395 Scapanorhynchus rapax (Quaas) 396 Lamnidae 396 Lamna appendiculata Agassiz 396 Isurus mantelli (Agassiz) 397 Undetermined shark denticles 398 Actinopterygii 398 Chondrostei 398 Acipenseridae 398 Propenserinae, new subfamily 398 Propenser, new genus 398 Propenser hewletti, new species 399 Holostei 401 Pycnodontidae 401 Hadrodus priscus Leidy 401 Incertae sedis 401 Pachycormidae 403 Protosphyraena Leidy 404 Protosphyraena nitida ? (Cope) 404 Protosphyraena sp. 1 404 Protosphyraena sp. 2 404 Protosphyraena sp. 3 404 Teleostei 404 Elopoidei 405 Elopoidea 405 Elopidae 405 Palelops, new genus 405 Palelops eutawensis, new species 406 Pachyrhizodontoidea, new superfamily 406 Pachyrhizodus Dixon 406 Pachyrhizodus minimus Stewart 408 Pachyrhizodus caninus Cope 410 Pachyrhizodus kingi Cope 411 385 386 CONTENTS PAGE Albuloidea 411 Albulidae 412 Albula dunklei, new species 412 Albula sp 413 Plethodoidea, new superfamily 413 Bananogmiidae, new family 413 Bananogmius crieleyi, new species 414 Bananogmius cf. zitteli (Loomis) 416 Bananogmius cf. polymicrodus (Stewart) 416 Bananogmius sp 416 Moorevillia, new genus 416 Moorevillia hardi, new species 416 Clupeoidei 416 Chirocentroidea, new superfamily 416 Ichthyodectidae 418 Ichthyodectes cf. ctenodon Cope 418 Xiphactinus audax Leidy 418 Saurodontidae 419 Saurodon leanus Hays 419 Saurodon ? sp. 1 420 Saurodon 1 sp. 2 420 Saurocephalus cf. lanciformis Harlan 420 Clupeoidea 420 Clupeidae indet 420 Dussumieriinae indet 420 Myctophoidei 420 Enchodontidae 420 Cimolichthys nepaholica (Cope) 420 Enchodus petrosus Cope 421 Enchodus cf. saevus Hay 421 Dercetidae 421 Stratodus apicalis Cope 421 Myctophidae 421 Myctophidae indet 421 Beryciformes 423 Trachichthyidae 423 Hoplopteryx ? sp 423 Trachichthyidae ? indet 424 Teleost incertae sedis 1 424 Teleost incertae sedis 2 424 Ecology of the Mooreville Chalk 424 The evidence from the overall geological picture 424 Ecological evidence from the sediments 425 Ecological evidence from the plants 425 Ecological evidence from the invertebrates 426 Ecological evidence from the fishes 426 Summary 431 References 432 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Edaphodon barberi, n. sp., holotype, medial, lateral, and dorsal views of mandible 391 175. Edaphodon mirificus Leidy, dorsal view of left and right mandibles; Edaphobon sp., medial view of right mandible 392 176. Denticles of sharks, much enlarged : Squalicorax falcatus and undetermined sharks 394 177. Tooth of Pseudocorax affinis 395 178. Scapanorhynchus rhaphidon, three anterior teeth; Scapanorhynchus rapax, anterior tooth; Lamna ap- lateral pendiculata, three teeth and one posterior tooth ; Isurus mantelli, two anterior teeth and one tooth lateral lateral ; Squalicorax falactus, two teeth, and Pseudocorax affinis, lateral tooth .... 396 179. Tooth of Ptychodus polygurus, vertebral cross-section of Squalicorax falcatus, and vertebral cross-section of Lamma appendiculata 397 180. Reconstruction of skull of Propenser hewletti, dorsal view 398 181. Propenser hewletti, n. sp., holotype, specimen in collection of Alabama Geological Survey, dorsal view of posterior portion of skull 399 182. Propenser hewletti, n. sp., holotype, rostral plate and body scute 400 183. Propenser hewletti, n. sp., holotype, hyomandibular and hyoid elements 401 184. Propenser hewletti, n. sp., holotype, fin rays, shoulder girdle, and dorsal scutes 402 185. Propenser hewletti, n. sp., holotype, palatoquadrate and part of maxillary, lower jaw, parts of vertebrae and neural arches 403 186. Hadrodus priscus, medial, dorsal, and lateral views of right mandible 404 187. Premaxillary of possible pycnodontid 404 188. Paleolps eutawensis, n. sp., scales 405 189. Pachyrhizodus minimus, nearly complete fish, head and pectoral fins 406 190. Vertebral cross-sections of Pachyrhizodus: P. minimus, P. caninus, and P. kingi 408 191. Scales of Pachyrhizodus: P. caninus and P. minimus 409 192. Reconstruction of Pachyrhizodus minimus 410 193. Pachyrhizodus caninus, pectoral girdle, vomers, and portion of jaw with attached quadrate 41 1 194. Albula dunklei, n. sp., holotype, posterior portion of ceratohyal, entopterygoid, portion of skull, and other parts 412 195. Tooth-bearing plate of Albula sp 413 196. Bananogmius crieleyi, n. sp., holotype, parasphenoid and vomer, right premaxillary with anteriorend up, basibranchial, abdominal vertebra, ectopterygoid, and right quadrate with anterior part up . 414 197. Moorevillia hardi, n. sp., holotype, left palatine, ventral view, right palatine, dorsal view, portion of ? three branchial arches, two abdominal vertebrae, and other parts 415 198. Stratodus apicalis, fragment of operculum, maxillary, palatine, internal view of left lower jaw, fragm ent of right lower jaw, and premaxillary; Bananogmius sp., parasphenoid; Bananogmius cf. zitteli, rostrum 417 199. Jaw of ? Saurodon sp., medial view; Pachyrhizodus caninus, pectoral fin spines 418 200. Xiphactinus audax, vertebral cross-section; Albula dunklei, vertebral cross-sections; Bananogmius crei- leyi, vertebral cross-section; Saurodon leanus, vertebral cross-section 418 201. Scales: dussumieriine ?, Albula dunklei, Bananogmius cf. polymicrodus 419 202. Scales: teleost indet, Hoploptery± ? 422 203. Myctophid scales, four different kinds described in text 423 204. Operculum referred to family Trachichthyidae ? 424 387 THE FISHES INTRODUCTION stone, and the Mooreville Chalk. 1 Since the greatest majority of fossil fishes have come from the lowest In many respects our knowledge of American Cre- member, the conclusions in this paper involve taceous fossil fishes is still in its infancy. With the ex- mainly this unit. ception of David's 1946 paper, no work of a faunal The are in nature has been done on Upper Cretaceous fishes since specimens the collection of Field Mu- seum, unless otherwise Hay (1903) and Stewart (1900). Yet unstudied col- specified. lections exist in many of our museums and future work is bound to if not of modify, completely alter, some SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTIONS our present concepts. Class It was first suggested to me by Dr. David H. Dunkle HOLOCEPHALI that the fossil fishes of the Mooreville Chalk of the Order CHIMAERIFORMES Selma Formation might form a subject for investiga- Suborder CHIMAEROIDEI tion. Field Museum already had a collection of Moore- Edaphodontidae Owen ville fishes collected by Mr. Barber, Dr. William D. Turnbull, Mr. R. H. Hard, and Dr. and Mrs. R. Zan- Diagnosis.—Chimaeroidei possessing paired vomer- gerl. This fine collection has formed the nucleus of the ine, palatine, and mandibular dental elements. The present study. beak-like mandibular element has from one to five oval tritoral areas Through a grant by the Bock Fund of the National per mandible, except for Elasmodus, which has two tritors and numerous smaller Academy of Science and with the aid of the University large tritoral areas. The element has from two to of Chicago it was possible for me to visit the Moore- palatine four tritors with the of ville localities where I collected additional material, exception Ganodus, which has one tritor and numerous small ones. The vo- and made observations concerning the ecology of the large known merine elements from six to Chalk. Mr. Bruce Crieley of Chicago accompanied possess eight tritors each. me as a field assistant. The Alabama Geological Sur- Discussion.—The greater proportional width and vey, through Dr. R. Jones and Miss Winnie McGlam- depth of the posterior portions of the mandibular den- mery, has not only given advice but has lent specimens. tal elements separate the Edaphodontidae readily from My wife, Anne Chase Applegate, has typed and as- the Lower Jurassic Squalorajidae, which have long, thin, sisted in the editing of the first draft. Dr. Rainer and naiTow mandibular dental elements. There is no Zangerl and Dr. Robert H. Denison have given a great likelihood of confusing