REINECKE, T. & MOTHS, H. & GRANT, A. & BREITKREUZ, H. (2005):
Die Elasmobranchier des norddeutschen Chattiums, insbesondere des Sternberger Gesteins (Eochattium, Oligozän). - 135 S., 15 Abb., 3 Tab., 60 Taf.;
Glaciofluviatile fossiliferous boulders, known as “Sternberger Gestein”, occur in northern Germany in the area of Schwerin-Sternberg (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Stratigraphically, they are equivalent to the sandy-silty, sublittoral Sülstorf - Beds (Eochattian, Late Oligocene of the southeastern North Sea Basin). These boulders contain a diverse and subtropical elasmobranch association of 24 shark and 10 batoid taxa, of which 21 and 3 resp. could be identified to species level. Fossil remains include isolated oral teeth, caudal stings, thorns, gill rakers, scales and, rarely, calcified vertebra. The fauna is dominated by sharks, living as Recent taxa in a mesotrophic-littoral (Carcharias, Physogaleus, Carcharhinus, Squalus), a mesobenthic-littoral (four scyliorhinid taxa), an eurythrophic-littoral (Notorhynchus, Galeocerdo) and a microtrophic-littoral (Cetorhinus) realm. The genus Carcharias is represented by three taxa, one of which is new: Carcharias sternbergensis. Epipelagic (Isurus, Alopias, Carcharocles) and mesopelagic taxa (Hexanchus, Mitsukurina) are rarely recorded. More than 97% of the batoid teeth belong to the generally benthic living genera Raja, Dasyatis and Myliobatis. The batoid genera Torpedo and Gymnura, and the shark genera Hexanchus and Mitsukurina are here recorded for the first time in the Chattian of the North Sea Basin. Elasmobranch faunas of the Doberg Formation (Eochattian and Neochattian) and the Kassel Formation (Eochattian), both in the southern North Sea Basin, are similar to the Sternberg fauna. They are, however, less well recorded, because taxa with small teeth are biased by sampling methods. Isurolamna and Parotodus are presently known from the Doberg and Kassel Formations only. The transition of the elasmobranch associations from the Rupelian to the Hemmoorian (Late Burdigalian) is described and discussed with respect to ecology, palaeogeography and climate. The new scyliorhinid genus Pachyscyllium is erected, including three species: P. albigensis n.sp. (Rupelian, Mainz Basin), P. braaschi n.sp. (Chattian, North Sea Basin) and P. venloensis (WEILER, 1943) (Hemmoorian, North Sea Basin).