CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Here we describe a number of articulated teeth of a hybodont shark from Upper Jurassicdeposits of the Monte Nerone Pelagic Carbonate Platform, in the Umbria‐Marche‐SabinaPalaeogeographic Domain (Northern Apennines, Central Italy). The material has been referredto as Asteracanthus cf. A. magnus, a quite well‐known taxon already reported from Middle toUpper Jurassic deposits of Europe. Teeth indicate an extreme crushing feeding behaviour,suggesting as putative prey both infaunal and epifaunal hard‐shelled invertebrates dwellingthe sea‐floor, such as large bivalves, brachiopods, gastropods as well as vagile crustaceans.The finding represents, to date, the first formal report of hybodont shark in the Umbria‐Marche‐Sabina Domain, throwing further light on the ecology within Pelagic Carbonate Platformsettings, and on the occurrence of Asteracanthus in the Late Jurassic of the Western Tethys.