The Mesozoic vertebrate fossil record of Sardinia (Italy): state of the art and new data

Daniel Zoboli

;Mattia Yuri Messina

2022-01-01

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Abstract

As highlighted by literature data, the Mesozoic vertebrate fossil record of Sardinia is very poor. Two ichnotaxa (Rotodactylus isp. and Rhynchosauroides isp.) referred to the continental vertebrates have been reported in the Triassic (“Buntsandstein”) of the Nurra sub-region (north-western Sardinia). In the “Muschelkalk” of the same area, remains of an actinopterygian fish (Colobodus sp.) and seven conodont taxa (Budurovignathus japonicus, B. hungaricus, B. trümpyi, Neogondolella constricta, N. longa, “Algherella riegeli”, and “A. uniformis”) have also been recorded. Teeth of a hybodont shark and a marine reptile, probably an Ophthalmosauridae, are documented in the Middle Jurassic of the Ogliastra sub-region (central-eastern Sardinia). We present herein two chondrichthyans teeth belonging to an indeterminate Hybodontoidea and an indeterminate member of the Hexanchoidei. The specimens come from two different localities of northeastern Sardinia referable to the Bathonian and Oxfordian-Valanginian, respectively. The new data expand the Mesozoic fossil record of the Island and could be a starting point for future research.