Maghriboselache
| Maghriboselache | |
|---|---|
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| Reconstructions of Maghriboselache | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Holocephali |
| Order: | †Cladoselachiformes |
| Family: | †Cladoselachidae |
| Genus: | †Maghriboselache Klug et al, 2023 |
| Type species | |
| Maghriboselache mohamezanei Klug et al, 2023
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Maghriboselache is an extinct
Discovery and naming
Maghriboselache was discovered in the eastern parts of the Anti-Atlas mountain range. Most specimens were found in the Thylacocephalan layer. The genus was described by Klug, Coates, Frey, Greif, Jobbins, Pohle, Lagnaoui, Haouz and Ginter in 2023.[1]
The generic name, "Maghriboselache", is derived from "al Maghrib", the Arabic word for Morocco, combined with "σέλαχος" ("selachos"), the Greek word for cartilaginous fish. The specific name, "mohamezanei", honors Moha Mezane, a French amateur geologist and fossil hunter, who discovered some Maghriboselache fossils.[1]
Description
Maghriboselache is known from multiple preserved fossil specimens preserving most of its skeletal features. Some of these fossils are preserved three-dimensionally. It is unique from other cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes) due to its broad snout and nostril placement.[1]
The genus has distally broad, flat, and strap-like radial pectoral fins and a cleaver-shaped palatoquadrate with an optic process shorter than palatine process.[1]
The size of Maghriboselache specimens ranges between 0.8–2.5 metres (2.6–8.2 ft) in length, but most are slightly more than 1 metre (3.3 ft) long.[1]
Teeth
The tooth fossils of Maghriboselache are only partially visible. The teeth on the Meckel's cartilage of this genus are nearly equally distanced with a 10% gap between each tooth.[1]
Classification
Klug et al. (2023) recovered Maghriboselache as a
| Chondrichthyes |
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References
- ^ ISSN 1664-2384.