Bandringa rayi (fossil shark) (Mazon Creek Lagerstätte, Francis Creek Shale, Middle Pennsylvanian; coal mine dump pile near Essex, northern Illinois, USA) 2

            Bandringa rayi Zangerl, 1969 fossil shark from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois, USA (public display, FMNH PF 5686, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA) (~10.7 cm across).

One of the most remarkable soft-bodied fossil deposits (lagerstätten) on Earth is the Pennsylvanian-aged Mazon Creek Lagerstätte near Chicago, Illinois.  In the Mazon Creek area, the Francis Creek Shale consists of concretionary gray shales.  The Francis Creek concretions are composed of argillaceous ironstone, and can be fossiliferous or nonfossiliferous.  The fossiliferous concretions contain land plants and terrestrial & marine animals, including nonmineralizing organisms.

This bizarre-looking fossil shark is the holotype specimen of Bandringa rayi.  Its size and lack of developed cartilaginous skeletal structures indicate that this is a juvenile shark.  It has an extremely elongated snout, well-preserved eyespots, and a set of very small teeth arranged in a V-pattern (discernible as two light-grayish lines extending in the 2-o’clock and 3:30 directions from the lower eyespot).  This rare species has been reported from the Mazon Creek deposit of Illinois and from Cannelton, Pennsylvania, USA.  Bandringa is related to modern sawfish, which also have an extremely elongated snout.

Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii, Eusealchii, Ctenacanthiformes, Ctenacanthoidea, Bandringidae

Stratigraphy: Mazon Creek Lagerstätte, Francis Creek Shale Member, Carbondale Formation, Desmoinesian Stage (= Westphalian D), upper Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: coal mine dump pile near Essex, northern Illinois, USA

Some rights reserved

Taken on: June 11, 2010

Tags:

Bandringa

rayi

shark

Mazon

Creek

Lagerstatte

Francis

Shale

Carbondale

Formation

Pennsylvanian

Illinois « less

Sets appears in: • Sharks • Illinois Rocks, Minerals, Fossils more » • Shark Fossils • Mazon Creek Lagerstätte fossils (Francis Creek Shale, Middle Pennsylvanian; coal mines in the Essex-Braidwood-Morris area, northern Illinois, USA) • Fish Fossils • Concretions « less

Groups appears in: • Earth Science Teaching Resource

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