In Belarus found a new species of fossil sharks

2018-02-25 09:43

In Belarus found a new species of fossil sharks
Researchers from St. Petersburg state and the Belarusian national technical University have described previously unknown species of ancient sharks.

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The animal lived on Earth about 345-350 million years ago, it was called Tamiobatis elgae after the famous Estonian paleonthology of Elga mark-Kurik, reports Rus.Media.

Sharks are very unusual teeth, the authors of the opening. Each one represents a detailed crown, where the Central prong is two times higher and three times wider than the other teeth. Teeth primal predator strewn with a variety of channels and irregularities, nodules and tubercles. The entire base of the teeth is very dense and complex network of vascular channels.

They have a much larger number bugorok than the teeth of other species Tamiobatis, and a unique “crown” with two columns high secondary tubercles, different aimed and curved. The researchers made images of the teeth in different angles on screenography and scanning electronic microscope, and then compared them with teeth of other ancient predators.

“Mkrothman shows that among the peaks of the tooth a stuck tooth small bony fish. I have a suspicion that the shark ate the small fish lucarini: got one, and the tooth was stuck between vertices in the shark’s jaws. In General, representatives of Tamiobatis was not very active predators and eat quite small meals: juveniles of other fish, crustaceans and molluscs non-solid,” says one of the authors Alexander Ivanov, associate Professor St. Petersburg state University, candidate of geological-mineralogical Sciences.

The new species belongs to cartilaginous fish. Previously, scientists have repeatedly found their remains on the territory of Belarus, mostly in the southern part of the country. Findings included individual teeth, scales and small pieces of cartilage. Interestingly, the majority of discoveries made in the basin of the Pripyat river, between the towns of Pinsk and MOSiR.