Late Eocene scyliorhinid sharks from the Trans-Urals, Russia

Priabonian deposits from two localities, Kurgan and Derney, in the Trans−Urals (Western Siberia) have yielded numerous selachian teeth. The carcharhiniform family Scyliorhinidae is represented by three species, including two new: Premontreia uralica sp. nov., Foumtizia zhelezkoi sp. nov., and F. pattersoni (Cappetta, 1976). Both genera are recorded from the West−Siberian Basin for the first time. Presumably all three species (including the one morphologically mimicking F. pattersoni, a species recorded from Ypresian of England) are endemic for the Trans−Urals region (contrary to the cosmopolitan lamniforms recorded previously from the area. The known distribution pattern of extant scyliorhinids supports the probability of endemism of the cat sharks from the West−Siberian Basin, which has also been isolated geographically from the Peri−Tethys during the Late Eocene marine regression. The peculiar local environmental conditions due to the Priabonian climatic cooling in the Boreal realm might have also facilitated the speciation.