Squatina sp.

Höltke, Olaf, Salvador, Rodrigo B. & Rasser, Michael W., 2023, Trophic relationships in the Early Miocene Upper Marine Molasse of Baden-Württemberg, Southwest Germany, with special emphasis on the elasmobranch fauna, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 46) 26 (3), pp. 1-38 : 31-32

Squatina sp.

Tooth type: Clutching.

Ebert et al. (2021) listed 22 recent species of Squatina , the biology of some of which are poorly known. All the species with better known biology have bony fishes as their staple food, with TL values ranging from 4.0 to 4.2 (for six of the living species; Cortés, 1999). Squatina spp. live on or near the bottom, from shallow waters to a depth of 1290 m (Ebert et al., 2021).

ORDER ORECTOLOBIFORMES Applegate, 1974

Family Ginglymostomatidae Gill, 1862

Genus Ginglymostoma Müller and Henle, 1837

Ginglymostoma delfortriei Daimeries, 1889

Tooth type: Clutching.

Ginglymostoma cirratum (Bonnaterre, 1788) is the only recent species known, living between 0 and 130 m depth, but mostly at depths shallower than 40 m (Ebert et al., 2021). Its staple foods are crustaceans, bony fishes and cephalopods, and its TL value is 3.8 (Cortés, 1999). For details on the feeding apparatus of the recent Ginglymostoma cirratum see Motta et al. (2008).

ORDER LAMNIFORMES Berg, 1937

Family Odontaspididae Müller and Henle, 1839

Genus Araloselachus Glikman 1964

Araloselachus cuspidatus (Agassiz, 1843)

Tooth type: Tearing.

The genus is extinct. The teeth present a general odontaspidid morphology and can be found nearly worldwide in neritic Oligocene and Miocene sediments. The genus affiliation of this species is under discussion (see Hovestadt, 2020). Based on δ 66 Zn istopes from teeth of the OMM of Rengetsweiler and Walbertsweiler, McCormack et al. (2022) found out that this species was placed much higher in the food pyramid than the other piscivore taxa, together with Carcharias , Pseudocarcharias, Hemipristris , Mitsukurina and also Carcharodon (see also their fig. 2). That conclusion is also supported by the more robust teeth of A. cuspidatus . Furthermore, according to McCormack et al. (2022), A. cuspidatus had a higher trophic level than Hemipristris and Carcharodon from the studied OMM deposits, which would mean that A. cuspidatus hunted fishes that had a higher position in the trophic chain.