A new hybodont shark fauna from the Upper Jurassic Vitabäck Clays at Eriksdal, Scania, southern Sweden

Abstract: A previously unknown fauna of hybodont sharks has been revealed from the Vitabäck Clays at the boundary between the Jurassic and Cretaceous. The material consists of oral teeth, cephalic spines and placoid scales from the five genera Egertonodus, Hybodus, Lissodus, Polyacrodus and Hylaeobatis. The palaeogeographical area and stratigraphical range of the six species found are extended: E. basanus (Egerton 1845), H. cf. ensis (Woodward 1916), L. crenulatus (Patterson 1966), P. parvidens (Woodward 1916), P. heterodon (Patterson 1966) and P. pattersoni (Duffin 1985). Lissodus heterodon and L. pattersoni are moved to Polyacrodus on the basis of tooth morphology and heterodonty. Two different cephalic spines are described and their systematic significance is discussed. Four morphotypes of placoid scales have been found and their affinity is discussed. The fauna is compared to other faunas of the same age and the hybodonts seem to have been repressed by neoselachians in Late Jurassic marine environments.