Ceratodus tunuensis, sp. nov., a new lungfish (Sarcopterygii, Dipnoi) from the Upper Triassic of central East Greenland

ABSTRACT

The fossil record of post-Paleozoic lungfishes in Greenland is currently restricted to a few brief reports of isolated and undetermined tooth plates coming from the uppermost Fleming Fjord Formation (late Norian) in Jameson Land, central East Greenland. Here, we describe Ceratodus tunuensis, sp. nov., a new dipnoan from a thin bed of calcareous lake mudstone from the Ørsted Dal Member of the Fleming Fjord Formation. The Ceratodus fossil record indicates that during the Late Triassic, this genus was restricted to the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. This record matches previous paleobiogeographical analyses and indicates that terrestrial biota during the Late Triassic was strongly influenced by paleolatitude.

Citation for this article: Agnolin, F. L., O. Mateus, J. Milàn, M. Marzola, O. Wings, J. Schulz Adolfssen, and L. B. Clemmensen. 2018. Ceratodus tunuensis, sp. nov., a new lungfish (Sarcopterygii, Dipnoi) from the Upper Triassic of central East Greenland. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2018.1439834.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful for the generous support to the 2012 and 2016 expeditions from the following foundations: Dronning Margrethes og Prins Henriks Fond, Arbejdsmarkedets Feriefond, Oticon Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Louis Petersens Legat, Det Obelske Familiefond, and Ernst og Vibeke Husmans Fond. POLOG provided professional expedition logistics and camp solutions. A. Lynge is thanked for help with the Inuit species name. N. Klein is thanked for help in the field. Special acknowledge to L. Cavin, an anonymous reviewer, and the editor Charles Underwood; their observations greatly improved the quality of present contribution. Finally, we thank N. Natorp, director of Geocenter Møns Klint, for organizing the expeditions.

M.M. is supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia doctoral fellowship SFRH/BD/99580/2014 (Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino superior, Portugal). Field work in Greenland by L.B.C. was partly supported by the Carlsberg Foundation.

Handling editor: Charlie Underwood.