Platylithophycus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Platylithophycus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Genus: | †Platylithophycus Johnson & Howell, 1948[1] |
| Species: | †P. cretaceus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Platylithophycus cretaceus Johnson & Howell, 1948 | |
Platylithophycus is an extinct genus of elasmobranchs that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It is known from a single specimen from the Niobrara Formation of Kansas, United States. It was originally identified as the fronds of a codiacean alga, then later as the cuttlebone of a cuttlefish.[1][2] It was most recently reidentified as the gill arches and rakers of an elasmobranch of uncertain affinities.[3] It might have been a filter feeding mackerel shark related to Aquilolamna.[4]
