Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1843)

Szabó, Márton & Kocsis, László, 2016, A preliminary report on the Early Oligocene (Rupelian, Kiscellian) selachians from the Kiscell Formation (Buda Mts, Hungary), with the re-discovery of Wilhelm Weiler’s shark teeth, Fragmenta Palaeontologica Hungarica 33, pp. 31-64 : 37-38

Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1843)

( Figs 10–13 )

1843 Notidanus primigenius n. sp. – AGASSIZ, pp. 218–220, pl. 27, figs 6–17.

1933 Notidanus (? Notorhynchus) primigenius Ag. – WEILER, p. 23, text-fig. 11.

1938 Notidanus (? Notorhynchus) primigenius Ag. – WEILER, p. 7, pl. 1, fig. 16.

1970 Hexanchus primigenius (L. Agassiz, 1843) – BRZOBOHATÝ & KALABIS, p. 42, figs 3, 4.

1970 Hexanchus primigenius (Agassiz) – CAPPETTA, pl. 4, figs 11–19.

1993 Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1843) – BAUT, p. 3, figs 3–4.

1999 Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1843) – BAUT & GÉNAULT, pp. 10–11, pl. 1, figs 1–4.

2001 Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1843) – REINECKE et al., pp. 7–8, pls 1–5.

2005 Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1835) – REINECKE et al., pp. 8–9, pls 1–2.

2010 Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1843) – HOVESTADT et al., p. 60, fig. 14.

2013 Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1835) – SCHULTZ, pp. 24–27, pl. 4, figs 9a, b.

2014 Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1835) – REINECKE et al., pp. 8–9, pls 1–2.

Referred material: 13 teeth (V.61.672C., V.61.794., V.61.818., V.61.834., V.61.862., VER 2016.3418., VER 2016.3429., VER 2016.3455.).

Remarks: The here referred material consists mostly of lower lateral teeth. Lower laterals have a wide and high, labiolingually flattened root, typical for lower laterals of hexanchid sharks. This root is getting thicker to the root-crown boundary ( HOLEC et al. 1995). The crown of lower laterals is made up of small mesial cusplets, a main (or principal) cusp, and distal cusplets (usually 3–6 distal cusplets, distally decreasing in size). The lower symphyseals are variable in detailed morphology, however, they mostly have a symmetrical, or nearly symmetrical contour. The upper anteriors have no distal or mesial cusplets, but an elongated main cusp, sigmoid in shape. The root of upper laterals is similar to that of lower ones, but their main cusp is significantly bigger than all other cusplets (these files have mostly 2–3 distal cusplets, often with missing mesial cusplets).

The HNHM specimens are mostly fragmentary or poorly preserved, most of them has no root. Even if some teeth are preserved as fragments only, they can be distinguished from the teeth of Hexanchus (see below) by the dimensions, size, number and proportions of the cusplets. Two lower laterals (V.61.794. and V.61.818.) are in relatively good condition, almost their whole crown is preserved. One lower symphyseal tooth is also known (VER 2016.3455., Fig. 10 ). The specimen is in very good condition, it has nearly symmetrical shape in labiolingual view. However, it had no inventory label, but it was identifiable as the tooth was figured by WEILER (1938, pl. 1, fig. 16; also Fig. 11 of this work). The characteristic symmetry, the number of cusplets and the shape of the preserved portions of the root allow this matching. This specimen (VER 2016.3455.) was already figured by FŐZY & SZENTE (2012), without exact locality.

Under specimen V.61.672C. a handwritten label was found ( Fig. 7 ), which refers this specimen to one of Weiler’s figure (1933, text-fig. 11). It is easily imaginable that specimen V.61.672C. and Weiler’s figured one are the same, since the preserved partial outline of the tooth in the clay ( Fig. 12 ) is similar to Weiler’s specimen. However, in this case Weiler’s figure is horizontally mirrored ( Fig. 13 ). It is also worth mentioning that the old label of V.61.672C. was written in German, but the style of handwriting differs from those of the two other handwritten labels found under the specimens of Weiler (see Figs 4, 6 , and 7).

The genus Notorynchus is known from the Early Cretaceous, with one recent species, Notorynchus cepedianus Péron, 1807 ( COMPAGNO 1984). N. primigenius ranges from the Oligocene to the Miocene, and it was reported widely from shallow marine sediments (see in CAPPETTA 2012; REINECKE et al. 2014).

Figures

Figs 10–13. Notorynchus primigenius (Agassiz, 1843). – 10. Lower symphyseal tooth (VER 2016.3455.), lingual view. – 11. Specimen VER 2016.3455. as figured by WEILER (1938). – 12. Lower lateral tooth (V.61.672C.), lingual view.– 13. Suggested specimen V.61.672C., as figured by WEILER (1933).– Figs 14–17. Hexanchus agassizi Cappetta, 1976. – 14. Upper anterolateral tooth (V.61.285.), lingual view. – 15. Lower lateral tooth (V.61.770.), lingual view. – 16. Lower lateral tooth (VER 2016.3456.), labial view. – 17. Lower lateral tooth (VER 2016.3457.), lingual view. Scale bars: 5 mm

Figs 1–7. Old inventory cards and labels in the HNHM collection.– 1. Old inventory card ofspecimen VER 2016.3451., as Isurus lepdonon (most probably misspelled version of Isurus leptodon). – 2. Old inventory card of specimen VER 2016.3454., as Hypoprion reisi. – 3. Old inventory card of specimen VER 2016.3453., as “fog” (“tooth” in Hungarian). – 4. Old, handwritten label belonging to specimen VER 2016.3453. – 5. Old inventory card of specimen V.61.761., determined as Eugaleus latus. – 6. Old, handwritten label belonging to specimen V.61.761. – 7. Old, handwritten label belonging to specimen V.61.672C