Iris Feichtinger

• Dr. rer. nat.
• Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

This study reports elasmobranch remains from two fossil-rich horizons in the earliest Danian Olching Formation at Waidach, Austria. These outer neritic assemblages complement previous fine-scale bulk-sampling of latest Maastrichtian horizons at Waidach and document a regional elasmobranch faunal turnover across the Cretaceous-Palaeo-gene (K-Pg) bou...

Extensive bulk sampling of seven horizons of a continuous succession deposited in an outer neritic environment of the latest Maastrichtian yielded more than three thousand ichthyoliths, including 1347 elasmobranch teeth. The sampled succession represents a characteristic deep-water fauna dominated by small squaliform sharks with an increase of spec...

Sibert and Rubin (Reports, 4 June 2021, p. 1105) claim to have identified a previously unidentified, major extinction event of open-ocean sharks in the early Miocene. We argue that their interpretations are based on an experimental design that does not account for a considerable rise in the sedimentation rate coinciding with the proposed event, nor...

Alteration of organic remains during the transition from the bio- to lithosphere is afected strongly by biotic processes of microbes infuencing the potential of dead matter to become fossilized or vanish ultimately. If fossilized, bones, cartilage, and tooth dentine often display traces of bioerosion caused by destructive microbes. The causal agent...

The ecological upheavals produced by the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event (K-Pg, −66 Ma) have been mostly studied at large scale with emphasis on clades’ diversity dynamics. How this event affected the structure of paleocommunities is comparatively less investigated, especially within large vertebrate clades like fish. Here, we quantified...

The Central Paratethys Sea was a hot spot for biodiversity with a high degree of endemism. Yet, knowledge on marine vertebrates is still limited. Elasmobranchs (sharks, rays, and skates) occupied a diverse array of ecological niches and played a crucial role in the trophic structure of the Central Paratethys. However, offshore or deep-marine sedime...

This study reports on elasmobranch teeth recovered from bulk-sampling of a deep-marine succession deposited in the northern Tethyan Realm (Bergen, Germany). Analyses of the complex geological setting of the succession revealed Upper Maastrichtian (UC20c) sediments at the base of the section, which are overlain by stratigraphically older deposits of...

Elasmobranchs (sharks, rays, and skates) occupy a diverse array of ecological niches and their fossil representatives probably played the same crucial role in the trophic structure of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB) within the Central Paratethys Sea. However, the deep-marine sediments of the NAFB are rarely accessible, significantly limiting...

The evolutionary success of Squaliformes (dogfish sharks) can be traced back to a first diversification event in the Late Cretaceous, coinciding with the development of a specialized dentition ideal for species identification. Despite a rapid diversification towards the end of the Cretaceous, teeth of deepsea dwelling squaliforms remain extraordina...

Otodus megalodon (Lamniformes: Otodontidae) is an iconic Neogene shark, but the lack of well-preserved skeletons has hampered our understanding of various aspects of its biology. Here, we reassess some of its biological properties using a new approach, based on known vertebral specimens of O. megalodon and 165 species of extinct and extant neoselac...

The bituminous dolomitic limestone of the Seefeld Member is well-known for its exquisitely preserved marine fish fauna. Nevertheless, marine vertebrates from these sites remain rare in publicly accessible scientific collections. Here we present newly articulated specimens recovered from two field campaigns in Obsteig (Tyrol). The new assemblage ref...

The Paleozoic represents a key time interval in the origins and early diversification of chondrichthyans (cartilaginous fishes), but their diversity and macroevolution are largely obscured by heterogenous spatial and temporal sampling. The predominantly cartilaginous skeletons of chondrichthyans pose an additional limitation on their preservation p...

Extensive bulk-sampling of the continuous Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary section at Gams (Styria, Austria) allows for the first time the description of the elasmobranch communities inhabiting the bathyal environment of this well-known section. The sampled succession comprises six horizons from the uppermost Maastrichtian (upper part of Nephrolites f...

The megatooth shark, †Otodus megalodon, which likely reached at least 15 m in total length, is an iconic extinct shark represented primarily by its gigantic teeth in the Neogene fossil record. As one of the largest marine carnivores to ever exist, under�standing the biology, evolution, and extinction of †O. megalodon is important because it had a s...

The Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) mass extinction is one of the five large mass extinctions that have occurred in Earth’s history and the only major mass extinction event known so far to be connected to a major meteorite impact and simultaneously occurring flood basalt eruptions. The Wasserfallgraben section is the type section of the Campanian to Pa...

Die ältesten Zahnfunde der Gattung Otodus stammen aus dem frühen Paläogen (65 Mio Jahre). Sie wiesen bereits eine beachtliche Größe auf und verhalfen dieser Gattung zu einer Rolle als mariner Spitzen-Prädator. Die Entwicklungslinie von Otodus unterliegt einer stetigen Diskussion, da einerseits Körperfossilien fehlen und sie andererseits zu O. megal...

Moderne Haie werden heute taxonomisch in die zwei Überordnungen Galeomorphii und Squalomorphii eingeteilt. Im Gegensatz zu der sehr diversen Ordnung der Dornhaie (Squaliformes, 143 Arten), enthalten die vier weiteren Ordnungen (Echinorhiniformes, Hexanchiformes, Squatiniformes und Pristiophoriformes) der Squalomorphii insgesamt nur 45 rezente Arten...

Dramatische Massenaussterbe-Ereignisse prägen unseren Planeten seit der Entwicklung erster Lebensformen. Seit der Entwicklung vielzelliger Organismen kam es zu fünf entscheidenden Umweltkatastrophen, die sogenannten Big Five, welche stets mit einem signifikanten Einschnitt der Biodiversität korrelierten. Das letzte und wohl auch prominenteste Big F...

This study describes for the first time a number of distinct fossil teeth documenting several deep-sea shark species from the Eocene, which were previously not recorded from the North Sea Basin, including Apristurus sp., Orthechinorhinus cf. pfeili, Deania cf. angoumeensis, Squaliolus sp., Etmopterus cf. cahuzaci and Paraetmopterus nolfi. Our findi...

The identification of mass-extinction events and the assessment of their impact on communities are key questions in palaeontology. In order to understand these catastrophic events on sharks and fish communities, it is necessary to combine reliable geological, paleontological and sedimentological data. Although the interpretation of depositional env...

The asteroid impact at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K/Pg) boundary influenced one of the most severe first order mass extinction events since complex life evolved. Although numerous global-scale studies focused on the ecological crisis of marine biota during the K/Pg event, little is known about the cascade of changing environmental parameters that a...

The previously known occurrences of Protoxynotus were stratigraphically disjunct with the first occurrence in the Turonian being separated by a gap of about 6 Myr from the Campanian occurrences. The new record of isolated teeth from the Late Santonian of Lebanon described in this study narrows this gap down to about 3 Myr with a hiatus spanning the...

Deep-sea environments are thought to provide potential refuge environments during catastrophic events for chondrichthyans. Although the K/Pg boundary represents one of the five mass extinction events in the Phanerozoic, little is known about its consequences over elasmobranch evolution and ecological structure of shark faunas. Here, we present an e...

Due to the peculiar combination of dental features characteristic for different squaliform families, the position of the Late Cretaceous genera Protoxynotus and Paraphorosoides within squaliform families has long been controversial. In this study, we revise these genera based on previously known fossil teeth and new dental material. The phylogeneti...

Living tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) are known as opportunistic feeders that prefer to feed on large-sized and profitable prey, depending on age and size of the shark. Among the stomach contents of G. cuvier are crustaceans, cephalopods, teleost fishes, other elasmobranchs, reptiles, birds, mammals, and undigestible items such as kitchen scraps,...

The driving forces and the impact on diversity patterns of mass-extinction events are one of the key-questions in palaeontology. Although the K/Pg extinction event is not considered as the most severe, this last extinction has enormously influenced the evolution leading to the modern biota. Despite numerous studies dealing with the most prominent a...

The distinct morphology of teeth of the dogfish sharks Squalus spp. allows for tracking its evolutionary history. Fossils of the genus are known since the early Cretaceous; however, fossilized teeth of Squalus from that period are scarce. Here, we report on the oldest finding of a Squalus tooth fossil (upper Campanian-lower Maastrichtian) from the...

The Carboniferous is characterized by drastic climatic and environmental fluctuations, which include multiple phases of glaciation resulting in an icehouse climate. Additionally, dynamic continental reconfigurations forced the contraction of the Rheic Ocean resulting in the closure of the Rheic–Tethyan Gateway, which precluded further faunal exchan...

Auch nach mehreren Jahrzehnten der Erforschung wartet die egerische Transgressionsabfolge von Unterrudling bei Eferding (Oberösterreich), welche den Übergang der Flachwasserablagerungen der Linz-Melk Formation zu den Tiefwassersedimenten der Eferding Formation (EF) umfasst, noch mit Überraschungen auf. So war kurzzeitig eine Schicht in der siltig-t...

The sediments of the vicinity of St. Pankraz near Salzburg are well-known for its extraordinary fossil richness. The most popular outcrop comprises sediments from the Eocene, yielding a diverse fossil content of invertebrates as well as scarce vertebrates. Among the vertebrates are remains of turtles, crocodiles, terrestrial-and marine mammals, and...

The fossil record of Chondrichthyes, or cartilaginous fishes, is strongly biased throughout the Palaeozoic in Austria. However, three exceptionally well-preserved teeth from the Carboniferous succession of Nötsch were found and recently donated to the Natural History Museum Vienna and the Landesmuseum Klagenfurt in Carinthia. While one tooth, Clado...

Repeated bulk sampling for over a decade in an indurated glauconitic sandy marl horizon at St. Pankraz Salzburg, Austria, has yielded a diverse assemblage of 37 elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) from the early middle Eocene (Lutetian). This elasmobranch fauna is dominated by epipelagic and mesopelagic taxa known today to preferentially inhabit the mi...

The North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB) comprises one of the most complete sedimentary records of the Oligocene and Miocene. Driven by global sea-level fluctuations, vast sedimentary influx and tectonic movement. The locality of Unterrudling near Eferding (Upper Austria) exposes the largest succession of sedimentary deposits from the late Oligocene...

Based on a shark-bitten partial skeleton of an immature sirenian (Metaxytherium cf. medium) from the middle Miocene of the Styrian Basin (Austria), we report on the oldest predator–prey interaction between tiger sharks and dugongs. The bite mark-bearing ribs and vertebrae are associated with seven teeth of Galeocerdo aduncus, which are otherwise ra...

Alteration of organic remains during the transition from the bio-to lithosphere is affected strongly by biotic processes of microbes influencing the potential of dead matter to become fossilized or vanish ultimately. If fossilized, bones, cartilage, and tooth dentine often display traces of bioerosion caused by destructive microbes. The causal agen...

Deep-neritic sediments of the Eferding Formation (Egerian, Upper Oligocene) of Upper Austria from the Kamig kaolinite quarry revealed minute teeth of the putatively planktivorous shark genus Nanocetorhinus. This is the oldest unambiguous record of this rarely documented genus, which was known so far only from Miocene deposits of Europe, North Ameri...

Cladodontomorphii represents an archaic clade of chondrichthyan fishes characterised by distinct tooth morphologies referred to as the cladodont type. This group of cartilaginous fishes first occurred during the early Palaeozoic Era as revealed from the fossil record and were long thought to have gone extinct at the Permian-Triassic mass extinction...

Dermal denticles of Mesozoic chondrichthyans are rarely documented, which tremendously limits the knowledge of different morphotypes during this time and for the whole clade. Here we describe an extraordinarily diverse assemblage of dermal denticles from deposits of Austria, comprising 17 different morphotypes. Based on the functional types of the...

Dermal denticles of Mesozoic chondrichthyans are rarely documented, which tremendously limits the knowledge of different morphotypes during this time and for the whole clade. Here we describe an extraordinarily diverse assemblage of dermal denticles from deposits of Austria, comprising 17 different morphotypes. Based on the functional types of the...

Elasmobranchs (sharks, rays, and skates) have been the predominant predators of the Central Paratethys during its fully marine phases in the Oligocene and Miocene. Whilst middle and upper Miocene strata are frequently outcropping in the Austrian part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB), upper Oligocene and lower Miocene sediments of the Egeri...

Continuous prospecting of an active quarry located in Upper Austria (North Alpine Foreland Basin) provided a rare assemblage of well-preserved isolated teeth of elasmobranchs. The fossiliferous sediments are part of the upper Oligocene (Egerian) Eferding Formation and represent an outer neritic depositional environment. The assemblage comprises six...

Early Cretaceous elasmobranchs still are very insufficiently known despite all progress that has been accomplished in recent years. Here, a small elasmobranch assemblage is presented from the Valanginian of Austria that contributes significantly to a better understanding of early Cretaceous elasmobranch diversity. The new assemblage comprises two n...

Cladodontomorphii represents an archaic clade of chondrichthyan fishes characterised by distinct tooth morphologies referred to as the cladodont type. This group of cartilaginous fishes first occurred during the early Palaeozoic Era as revealed from the fossil record and were long thought to have gone extinct at the Permian-Triassic mass extinction...

The taxonomy of sharks (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii) remains difficult since this group has a cartilaginous skeleton instead of ossified bones, which makes complete body fossils rather rare. Contrary to the sporadic preservation of skeletons, cartilaginous fishes developed species specific teeth and a permanent tooth replacement pattern, which p...

The preservation potential of shark skeletons is generally poor. Therefore, complete fossils are rather rare. Due to the rarity of articulated specimens, each exceptionally preserved specimen has a fundamental significance for palaeontology in general. Herein, we present an about 38-cm-long fossil shark preserved as mould on a sandstone slab. The s...

Poster NOBIS- Eggenburg November 2015