Titre du projet
3D morphology of a Permian xenacanth shark head
Descriptif du projet
The early evolution of sharks and their relatives (chondrichthyans : sharks, rays, and chimaeras) is obscured by a very poor fossil record of internal skeletal remains (e.g. the head, jaws, gill arches). Lebach, a Permian locality in Saarland, Germany preserves several early sharks in siderite concretions, often preserving their internal skeletons in three-dimensions. Since their discovery in the early 19th century many of these fossils have become key to our understanding of early chondrichthyans, but many have also destructively prepared during this time, using acid to create moulds. Xenacanth sharks are one of these key chondrichthy an taxa. Now thought to be early stem-group elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) they lie at an important phylogenetic juncture for understanding how modern chondrichthyan groups arose. Several species are known from Lebach, including Triodus, Pleuracanthus, and Xenacanthus. We propose to scan a fossilised head of a Xenacanthus decheni from the MNHN collections, which was never prepared and sopreserves the calcified cartilage comprising the head, jaws, gills, and pharynx. If successful, this will be the first 3D data on a complete xenacanth head, and will be of great importance to understanding the early evolution of chondrichthyans.

Travaux réalisés par la plateforme AST-RX

Collection No Inventaire Descriptif Vignette Equipement
F SAA134A numérisation parties A + B ensemble (contraste : pas optimale pour la nature du spécimen, c-à-d en nodule) v|tome|x L 240-180
F SAA134B numérisation parties A + B ensemble (contraste : pas optimale pour la nature du spécimen, c-à-d en nodule) v|tome|x L 240-180