First Valanginian Polacanthus foxii (Dinosauria,Ankylosauria) from England,from the Lower Cretaceous of Bexhill,Sussex

A new partial skeleton of the armoured ornithischian dinosaur Polacanthus found in the Wadhurst Clay Formation (Valanginian stage) of Bexhill, Sussex is the oldest recorded occurrence of this taxon. Previous discoveries suggested that at least two armoured ornithischians occur in the Wealden succession: Polacanthus, which was mostly restricted to the Barremian, and Hylaeosaurus, which was recorded as present only in the Valanginian. The new discovery extends the stratigraphic range of Polacanthus into the Valanginian. Although these two taxa appear to be closely similar anatomically, their osteology now suggests they are not synonymous. The new specimen includes the first known jugal as well as a comparatively rare polacanthid plate/spine (splate) which probably comes from the shoulder (pectoral) area of these animals.     

Microvertebrates from the Rhaetian basal bone bed of Saltford,near Bath,SW England

The famous Rhaetian bone bed (Late Triassic, 205 Ma) is well known because it marks a major switch in depositional environment from terrestrial red beds to fully marine conditions throughout the UK and much of Europe. The bone bed is generally cemented and less than 10 cm thick. However, we report here an unusual case from Saltford, near Bath, S.W. England where the bone bed is unconsolidated and up to nearly 1 m thick. The exposure of the basal beds of the Westbury Formation, Penarth Group includes a bone bed containing a diverse Rhaetian marine microvertebrate fauna dominated by sharks, actinopterygian fishes and reptiles. Despite the unusual sedimentary character of the bone bed, we find similar proportions of taxa as in other basal Rhaetian bone beds (55–59 % Lissodus teeth, 13–16 % Rhomphaiodon teeth, 12–14 % Severnichthys teeth, 6–9% Gyrolepis teeth, 3–4% undetermined sharks’ teeth, 1–3% undetermined bony fish teeth, and < 1% of each of Hybodus, Parascylloides, and Sargodon), the only differences being in the proportions of Rhomphaiodon teeth, which can represent 30–40 % of specimens elsewhere. This suggests that taphonomic bias of varying Rhaetian bone beds may be comparable despite different sedimentary settings, and that the proportions of taxa say something about their original proportions in the ecosystem.     

Trophic ecology of the dominant fishes in Elkhorn Slough,California, 1974–1980

Food habits of the dominant fishes collected from 1974 to 1980 at eight locations in Elkhorn Slough, California, and the adjacent ocean were investigated. Epifaunal crustacea was the major prey group identified from stomach contents of more than 2,000 fishes, followed by epifaunal and infaunal worms, and molluscs. Overall, 18 fish species consumed 263 different prey taxa, ranging from 10 taxa to 125 taxa per fish species and including 99 crustacean, 56 polychaete, and 39 molluscan taxa. Mean prey richness was greatest at stations near the ocean and lowest at inshore stations. Detailed dietary data for all prey taxa were summarized as trophic spectra for each fish species. Trophic spectra represented functional groups of prey and were used for comparisons of dietary similarity. Cluster analyses, based on trophic spectra, resulted in four feeding guilds of fishes. Of 18 fish species, seven (Amphistichus argenteus, Leptocottus armatus, Embiotoca jacksoni, Clevelandia ios, Gillichthys mirabilis, Cymatogaster aggregata, andCitharichthys stimaeus) fed principally on epifaunal crustacea. Four species (Pleuronectes vetulus, Platichthys stellatus, Phanerodon furcatus, andMyliobatus californica) consumed mostly molluscs and infaunal worms. Two species (Psettichthys melanostictus andTriakis semifasciata) fed on mobile crustacea, and five species (Hyperprosopon anale, Engraulis mordax, Clupea pallasi, Atherinopsis californiensis, andAtherinops affinis) fed largely on zooplankton and plant material. Our results suggest that high food availability enhances the nursery function of imshore habitats, and emphasize the importance of invertebrate prey populations and the indirect linkage of plant production to the ichthyofaunal assemblarly marine immigrant species that are likely ‘estuarine dependent’.     

Late Albian ammonites from the Aitamir Formation (Koppeh Dagh,northeast Iran)

Late Albian ammonite faunas from the Aitamir Formation of the Koppeh Dagh Basin in northeast Iran are described and illustrated. These comprise 14 taxa, several of which are recorded from Iran for the first time, namely Anahoplites planus (formerly recorded from central Iran in open nomenclature only), Semenoviceras solidus, Epihoplites (Metaclavites) iphitus, Hysteroceras orbignyi and Pseudhelicoceras robertianum. New records of Placenticeras grossouvrei extend the stratigraphic range of this species downwards into the Late Albian; previously it was known from the Early and Middle Cenomanian only. The record of the rare E. (M.) iphitus fills a palaeobiogeographic gap between Crimea and Tajikistan, and the holotype of Spath is re-illustrated here. Additionally, Epihoplites trapezoidalis, from the Late Albian of Tajikistan, is relegated into the synonymy of Spath's species. A large number of taxa typical of the Late Albian (upper part of the Gault Clay Formation) of northwest Europe indicate close palaeobiogeographic affinities with the Koppeh Dagh Basin and faunal exchange across the Russian Platform and Transcaspia. The stratigraphic succession of the ammonite faunas is used for a biostratigraphic subdivision of the upper Aitamir Formation.     

An Upper Cretaceous (middle Campanian) marine chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fauna from the Rattlesnake Mountain sandstone member of the Aguja Formation in West Texas

A thin phosphate-granule conglomerate within the Upper Cretaceous (middle Campanian) Rattlesnake Mountain sandstone member of the Aguja Formation preserves a diverse chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fauna. This highly fossiliferous deposit (the ‘Ten Bits Microsite’) yielded about 5000 teeth, spines, and denticles in a small amount of matrix (c. 150 kg). About 30 identifiable species of sharks, rays, and bony fishes are recognized. Two of the three most abundant chondrichthyan species at Ten Bits (Scapanorhynchus texanus and Ischyrhiza mira) are also the most common species in other middle to late Campanian marine vertebrate faunas along the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain. The myliobatiform rays Brachyrhizodus and Rhombodus that occur at Ten Bits also appear to be characteristic of the Gulf and Atlantic Coast, as are lamniform sharks such as Cretalamna and Serratolamna. These taxa are entirely absent or extremely rare in Western Interior Campanian faunas. In contrast, some small orectolobiform sharks (Cantioscyllium, Chiloscyllium, Columbusia) and small rays (Protoplatyrhina) found at Ten Bits are common in shallow water faunas of the Western Interior and Texas Coastal Plain, but rarely reported from the eastern Gulf or Atlantic Coast. The common Western Interior ray Myledaphus bipartitus does not occur at Ten Bits or in any Gulf or Atlantic Coast fauna. Ptychotrygon agujaensis is abundantly represented in the Ten Bits fauna, but unknown in correlative marine faunas. Although Ptychotrygon occurs in all Western Interior, Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain faunas, it is represented elsewhere by apparently endemic species at each collection site. The differences between Western Interior, Gulf, and Atlantic Coastal Plain faunas probably reflect latitudinal variation in water temperature or salinity, or different oceanic water circulation patterns between the Western Interior Seaway and the Gulf or Atlantic Coast that restricted the distributions of some marine fish species. The Ten Bits fauna shares typical species with both Western Interior and Gulf and Atlantic Coast faunas, reflecting its position at the border between these provinces; however, the dominant taxa found at Ten Bits are the same as those found on the Gulf and Atlantic Coast, and indicate that western Texas was more closely allied biogeographically with that province than with the Western Interior of North America. One species tentatively identified in the Ten Bits fauna on the basis of a single tooth, Igdabatis cf. I. indicus, is otherwise known only from southern Europe and Asia, although a similar large myliobatid ray also occurs rarely in Texas Coastal Plain faunas. These occurrences indicate that western Texas may have been near the northern limit of the range for some tropical Tethyan marine vertebrate species.     

A new neoselachian shark from the marine Early Cretaceous of Southern England

Rare, isolated teeth of Corysodon multicristatus sp. nov. are described from two levels in the Atherfield Clay Formation (Early Aptian, Early Cretaceous) of Atherfield Point on the Isle of Wight, UK. Ten teeth of the new species were recovered from 1095 kg of washed and graded sediment residues. The teeth themselves are very small (around 0.5 mm high) and possess a distinctive crown bearing a tiered series of transverse crests adapted for rasping. Details of the dental architecture of the Atherfield Clay Formation specimens clearly indicate that the Cretaceous material differs significantly from the teeth of the type species for the genus, Corysodon cirinensis, recorded from the Kimmeridgian of northern France and Switzerland. C. multicristatus is the first substantiated record of the genus from the Early Cretaceous, thereby extending the stratigraphic range of the genus from the latest Jurassic, and the geographical range from continental Europe to the UK.     

Neoselachians and Chimaeriformes (Chondrichthyes) from the latest Cretaceous–Paleogene of Sierra Baguales,southernmost Chile. Chronostratigraphic,paleobiogeographic and paleoenvironmental implications

This paper discusses a well-represented fossil record of cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes) from southern South America. The recovered samples allow the recognition of three assemblages with chronostratigraphic and paleogeographic value: i) typical Maastrichtian sharks and rays with affinities to eastern Pacific fauna, including the taxa Ischyrhiza chilensis, Serratolamna serrata, Centrophoroides sp. associated to Carcharias sp., and Dasyatidae indet.; ii) a scarce reworked assemblage of Paleocene–Early Eocene age including the taxa Otodus obliquus and Megascyliorhinus cooperi; iii) a rich assemblage with reworked taxa of Early to Middle Eocene age, together with autochthonous deposited Middle to Late Eocene taxa with close affinities to paleoichthyofaunas recovered from the North Atlantic, represented by Carcharias ‘hopei’, Odontaspis winkleri, Carcharoides catticus, Macrorhizodus praecursor, Carcharocles auriculatus, Striatolamia sp., Striatolamia macrota, Hexanchus agassizi, Notorhynchus sp., Myliobatis sp., Abdounia sp., Pristiophorus sp., Squatina sp., cf. Rhizoprionodon sp., Ischyodus sp., and one new species, Jaekelotodus bagualensis sp. nov. The studied samples include for the first time taxa with well established chronostratigraphic resolutions as well as taphonomic information that help clarifying the age of the fossil-bearing units. In addition, they provide relevant information about the evolution of the Magallanes (=Austral) Basin from the Upper Cretaceous to the Paleogene, suggesting a probable connection with the Quiriquina Basin of south-central Chile during the latest Cretaceous. Finally, the studied assemblages indicate a latitudinal pattern of distribution that provides valuable data on the environmental evolution and temperature of southern South America during the Paleogene.     

Geological and Palaeontological context of three new Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) vertebrate sites in the Iberian Peninsula (Cuenca Province,Central Spain)

Three new Lower Cretaceous vertebrate sites (Vadillos-1, Vadillos-2, El Tobar) have been recently discovered and studied in the Cuenca Province (Central Spain). They are located in deposits of “Wealden” facies belonging to the El Collado Sandstone and Clay Formation. In these outcrops, micro and macroremains corresponding to plants, invertebrates and vertebrates have been collected and subsequently assigned to macrophytes, charophytes (e.g., Atopochara trivolvis triquetra, Globator maillardii trochiliscoides, Clavator harrisii harrisii), ostracods (e.g., Cypridea gr. modesta, Cypridea cf. C. isasae, Cypridea sp. aff. C. moneta, Cypridea sp. 1, Cypridea sp. 2), molluscs (Unionoida, Viviparus sp.), fishes, amphibians, turtles (cf. Eucryptodira), crocodyliforms (Neosuchia) and dinosaurs (ankylosaurs, ornithopods, theropods). Among the vertebrate remains, scales, teeth, plates, osteoderms, phalanges, ribs, vertebrae and other incomplete bones, as well as eggshell fragments have been identified. This rich and diverse assemblage was deposited in an upper Barremian alluvial-palustrine muddy floodplain crossed by braided sandy channels.     

Ostracoda during the Early Aptian (Early Cretaceous) greenhouse period on the Isle of Wight, England

The earliest Aptian marine transgression of the Lower Cretaceous across southern England resulted in the collapse of the generally freshwater Barremian environment and the initiation of marine mileux. Salinities passed from fresh-oligohaline to meso- and pliohaline, reaching fully marine conditions during the obsoletum Subzone (P. fissicostus Zone). Newly formed environmental niches were rapidly occupied by ostracod associations. In the Isle of Wight, freshwater Cypridea-rich assemblages in the lower Shepherd's Chine Member (Vectis Formation) were gradually replaced by faunas dominated by Sternbergella cornigera, Mantelliana mantelli and Theriosynoecum fittoni. Marine taxa recorded from the Atherfield Clay Formation migrated predominantly from the Paris Basin and include Asciocythere albae, Schuleridea derooi, Neocythere gottisi, N. bordeti, Cythereis geometrica, Cytheropteron stchepinskyi and Protocythere croutesensis.     

A Rhaetian microvertebrate fauna from Stowey Quarry,Somerset, U.K.

Rhaetian bone beds have been described from many locations in south-west England, around Bristol. One site that has never been reported is Stowey Quarry, some 13?km south of Bristol. This quarry yielded Lias, and revealed thin Rhaetian units in the quarry floor, including two bone beds, the basal Rhaetian bone bed, and a second, higher bone bed, also within the Westbury Formation. The fossil fauna of both includes elements typical of Rhaetian bone beds elsewhere, but showing differences in faunal composition between the two. The basal bone bed yielded more specimens and more species, with three taxa (Sargodon tomicus, Rhomphaiodon minor and Hybodus cloacinus) exclusive to this bed and eleven identified in total. Severnichthys acuminatus accounts for more than 50% of the countable teeth from the basal bone bed, followed by Gyrolepis albertii with 20%, Lissodus minimus with 14% and Rhomphaiodon minor with 9%. The basal bone bed, as ever, is dominated by chondrichthyans, whereas the upper bone bed is dominated by osteichthyans, which form 90% of the non-dental remains. The only unique taxon is Dapedium, and Gyrolepis albertii is the most abundant species with 45% of countable teeth, followed by Severnichthys acuminatus with 38% and Duffinselache holwellensis with 11%. These faunal differences, and the equally good condition of specimens between both samples confirms that the upper bone bed is independent of the basal bone bed, and is not a reworked subsample.     

Microvertebrates from the Rhaetian bone beds at Westbury Garden Cliff,near Gloucester,UK

Westbury Garden Cliff has been a noted site for Rhaetian bone beds for over a century. It is known especially as a source of excellently preserved bones of the small marine reptile Pachystropheus as well as other reptiles, and fishes. Further it is the type locality of the Westbury Formation, the lower half of the British Rhaetian (Penarth Group). It was also featured in a debate over lateral equivalence of the basal Rhaetian bone bed, with supposedly 5–6 m of pre-basal bone bed deposition. However, the bone beds at different localities are unlikely to be of exactly the same age, and the succession at Westbury Garden Cliff lacks the erosive base of the Westbury Formation seen elsewhere and so presumably started later, perhaps reflecting progressive inundation of the Welsh High, the nearest land. However, the main bone bed occurs in lenses up to 20 cm wide, and may represent hummocky cross stratification, evidence of storm bed deposition. Trace fossils in several sandstones include Selenichnites and Crescentichnus, evidence of shallow-water limulids ploughing the sediment for food, Lockeia, the living burrows of bivalves, and Chondrites burrow systems, suggesting subsequent stability of the sandstone beds.     

New cirripedes (Crustacea,Thoracica) from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of the United Kingdom

Extensive new material of scalpelliform cirripedes, including articulated individuals, from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset, southern England, is described and used as a basis for taxonomic revision of the family Zeugmatolepadidae. Two subfamilies, the Zeugmatolepadinae and Martillepadinae nov., are established and two new genera (Martillepas, Concinnalepas) in the latter subfamily are described from the Upper Jurassic and one (Icenilepas) from the Upper Cretaceous Chalk. Material from the Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset also includes the oldest fossil representative of the family Pollicipedidae for which a new genus and species, Etcheslepas durotrigensis, are erected, and the oldest calanticid, Cretiscalpellum sp. nov. Jurassic taxa established by T.H. Withers in 1928, on the basis of sparse material, are redescribed, and referred to the new genera as Martillepas ovalis, M. costata, M. hollisi, Concinnalepas concinna and Etcheslepas fragilis.     

Soft-shelled turtles (Trionychidae) from the Bissekty Formation (Late Cretaceous: late Turonian) of Uzbekistan: Shell-based taxa

In this paper we describe previously unpublished trionychid turtle material, consisting of numerous shell fragments, from the Late Cretaceous (late Turonian) Bissekty Formation of the Dzharakuduk locality in Uzbekistan. This material is assigned to two shell-based taxa: Aspideretoides cf. riabinini and “Trionyx” cf. kansaiensis. The material which cannot be confidently attributed to these two taxa is identified as Trionychidae indet. In addition to these shell-based trionychid taxa, the Dzharakuduk turtle assemblage includes two skull-based taxa of trionychids (Khunnuchelys kizylkumensis and Trionychini indet.). The trionychids from the Bissekty Formation are most similar to trionychids from the younger (Santonian – early Campanian) Bostobe Formation of Kazakhstan, represented by three shell-based taxa (Aspideretoides riabinini, Paleotrionyx riabinini and “Trionyx” kansaiensis), and one skull-based taxon (Khunnuchelys sp.). We provide an improved understanding of the subtle similarities and differences between four closely related Cretaceous turtle assemblages of Middle Asia and Kazakhstan.     

Permian (Leonardian) brachiopods from Paso Hondo Formation,Chiapas, southern Mexico. Paleobiogeographical implications

One of the most important marine sequences of calcareous rocks from the Paleozoic of Mexico outcrops in southern Chiapas. It is composed by different units from Early Permian, being the Paso Hondo Formation the youngest with a Leonardian age. Different groups of marine invertebrates as corals, bivalves, gastropods, bryozoans, brachiopods and crinoids have been previously reported of this unit. Five brachiopod species of the orders Productida, Athyridida, Spiriferida and Spiriferinida from the Barrio Allende section of this unit are herein described. The new species Dyoros (Lissosia) maya and Hustedia shumardi are proposed. Sedimentology and paleoecology of the Paso Hondo Formation, suggest a well-lighted shallow lagoon environment with continuous terrigenous input. The subgenus Dyoros (Lissosia), the genus Paucispinifera and the species Hustedia shumardi, Spiriferella propria and Spiriferellina tricosa are typical taxa from Permian localities of Texas, New Mexico and Coahuila. Their presence in the studied area suggests that during Early Permian there was a geographic connection between the different localities of the biotic Grandian Province (southern USA, northern Mexico and Venezuela) and southeastern Chiapas.     

A new afrograptid (Diplostraca: Estheriellina) from the Lower Cretaceous of southern England

The Family Afrograptidae is a ‘conchostracan’ group with multiple radial costae reaching to the umbo on their carapaces. It comprises four described genera: Afrograpta, Camerunograpta, Congestheriella and Graptoestheriella with a total of thirteen described species which are occasionally reported from the Jurassic and the Cretaceous in Africa, Europe and South America (i.e. Afrograpta from the Upper Cretaceous of Cameroon; Camerunograpta from the Jurassic to Cretaceous of Cameroon; Congestheriella from the Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous of the Congo Basin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Venezuela and Argentina; and Graptoestheriella from the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous of Brazil). A new genus and a new species, Surreyestheria ockleyensis gen. et sp. nov., belonging to the Family Afrograptidae from the Lower Cretaceous (lower Barremian) Upper Weald Clay Formation of Ockley Village, Surrey County, southern England is described in this paper. The new genus mainly differs from the other four genera by the special reticulate ornamentation on its carapace. It indicates that the Family Afrograptidae was more diverse and more widely distributed in the late Mesozoic than previously supposed. Afrograptidae is a special branch of Estheriellina the latter originating in the late Palaeozoic and the former in the early Mesozoic. Afrograptids, as a whole had been widespread across Pangea in the Early Jurassic.     

Terrestrial environments during MIS 11: evidence from the Palaeolithic site at West Stow,Suffolk, UK

Multidisciplinary investigations of the sequence at Beeches Pit, West Stow (Suffolk, UK), have a direct bearing the age of the Hoxnian Interglacial and its correlation with the continental Holsteinian and with the global marine record. At this site, glacial deposits (till and outwash gravels) referable to the Anglian Lowestoft Formation fill a subglacial channel cut in Chalk bedrock. Above these glacial deposits a series of interglacial sediments occurs, consisting of limnic, tufaceous and colluvial silts, lacking pollen but rich in shells, ostracods and vertebrates. Lower Palaeolithic flint artefacts of Acheulian character have also been recovered, including refitting examples. Charred material is abundant at certain horizons and many of the bones have been burned. Several discrete areas of burnt sediment are interpreted as hearths. The molluscan fauna comprises some 78 taxa and includes species of considerable zoogeographical and biostratigraphical importance. The land snail assemblage from the tufa consists of woodland taxa with no modern analogue, including species that are either extinct (e.g. Zonitoides sepultus) or which no longer live in Britain (e.g. Platyla polita, P. similis, Neniatlanta pauli). This is also the type locality of Retinella (Lyrodiscus) skertchlyi, which belongs to a subgenus of zonitid land snail now living only on the Canary Islands. There are indications from this fauna (‘the Lyrodiscus biome’) that the climate was wetter and perhaps warmer than the present day. The vertebrate fauna is also noteworthy with species of open habitats, such as rabbit (Oryctolagus cf. cuniculus), and of closed forest, such as squirrel (Sciurus sp.) and garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) present at different times. The occurrence of southern thermophiles, such as Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus), indicates temperatures warmer than those of eastern England today. The upper levels include much material reworked from the interglacial sediments, although there is clear faunal evidence for climatic deterioration. Both the molluscan and vertebrate faunas suggest correlation of the interglacial sediments with the Hoxnian. Uranium series dates from the tufa (∼455 ka BP), TL dates from burnt flints (414±30 ka BP) and a range of amino acid racemization data all support correlation of this interglacial with MIS 11. However, four OSL dates from sand beneath the interglacial sequence yield a mean age of 261±31 ka BP, far younger than all other age determinations and far younger than implied by the biostratigraphy. Archaeologically the site is unusual in showing prolonged human occupation within closed deciduous forest and evidence for controlled use of fire in a Lower Palaeolithic context. Biostratigraphical correlations with other Lower Palaeolithic sites support the suggestion that Acheulian and Clactonian industries both occurred in southern Britain during the same substage of the Hoxnian, although not necessarily at precisely the same time. The characteristics of the MIS 11 interglacial in Britain are discussed in the light of evidence from Beeches Pit and elsewhere.     

Taxonomy and palaeoecology of thoracican cirripedes (Crustacea) from a Campanian rocky shoreline at Ivö Klack,southern Sweden

An abundant and diverse fauna of thoracican cirripedes is described on the basis of over 3000 isolated valves collected from a single lens of material representing in the order of a few thousand years of Campanian time (c. 80 Ma), from sediment formed on and close to a rocky shoreline at Ivö Klack in southern Sweden. At least twenty-eight species are present in the fauna, belonging to scalpelliform and basal sessile taxa. Two families (Myolepadidae and Titanolepadidae) and four genera are new (Myolepas, Bosquetlepas, Levelepas and Ivoelepas), as are seven species (Titanolepas spinifer, Levelepas roeperi, Ivoelepas nielseni, Arcoscalpellum scaniensis, Pollicipes vansyoci and P. (?) striatum). The palaeoecology is discussed with reference to extant cirripede faunas from rocky coastal environments. It is concluded that, although many taxa lived subtidally, the pollicipedids and pollicipedid-like forms (Capitulum, Pollicipes and Myolepas, respectively) lived in the intertidal zone, attached to rocks in a high-energy environment. Pachydiadema, a large basal balanomorph species, was adapted to living attached to boulders in the intertidal zone. The remarkable diversity significantly exceeds that of any known fossil thoracican assemblage, and is unknown in similar habitats at the present day, possibly challenging Darwin's famous quip that we currently live in the ‘Age of Barnacles’.     

Zurupleuropholis gen. nov. (Teleostei,Albian, Argentina), first pleuropholids from the Cretaceous of South America

Although the Cretaceous is characterized by a rich fish diversity, Cretaceous continental fishes from Gondwana are poorly known and comparatively scarce. Among these fishes, the family Pleuropholidae is only known by a few species relatively poorly preserved, from the Middle Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous of Europe, Africa, North America, and South America. In this paper, two new species of the pleuropholid new genus Zurupleuropholis are described, Z. quijadensis gen. et sp. nov. and Z. decollavi gen. et sp. nov. The new fishes were recovered in the Lower Cretaceous lacustrine Lagarcito Formation of central-west Argentina. This taxon constitutes a relevant finding considering that the representation of the family Pleuropholidae is rare worldwide. Zurupleuropholis gen. nov. appears to be the youngest known member of Pleuropholidae, and it represents the second record of the family in South America and the first record in the Cretaceous of the continent.