SYSTEMATICS OF THE CRETACEOUS-PALEOGENE CHIMAEROID FISH OF THE GENUS ELASMODUS (CHONDRICHTHYES, HOLOCEPHALI)

Abstract

The genus Elasmodus comprises nine species including E. tslieganicus sp. nov. Elasmodus remains are known from the Albian-Eocene interval, predominantly from the Old World. Fossil material of this genus has been found in fourteen localities in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. The Elasmodus fishes were sclerophagous and had probably partially shifted towards vertebrate carrion feeding. The extinction of this genus was due to global cooling and sea regression at the end of the Eocene.