SHARKS AND RAPS (CHONDRICHTHYES) FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS RED BEDS OF THE SOUTH-CENTRAL PYRENEES (LLEIDA, SPAIN) - INDEXES OF AN INDIA-EURASIA CONNECTION

Six chondrichthyan taxa are recorded in Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian ) red beds of the south-central Pyrenees (Tremp Formation, Lleida, Spa in), indicating marine influence in the palaeoenvironment. Two ray spe cies found in Spain have been previously described in India. One ray s pecies conforms to the Gondwanan genus Igdabatis and the endemic India n species Igdabatis indicus Prasad and Cappetta, 1993 [Prasad, G.V.R., Cappetta, H,, 1993. Late Cretaceous selachian from India and the age of the Deccan traps. Palaeontology 36 (1), 231-248.] The other ray fro m the Tremp Formation is also close to the Indian material assigned to Rhombodus sp. 2. The limited dispersal abilities of benthic rays poin ts to a shallow trans-Tethyan connection between Eurasia and India at the end of the Cretaceous. The data increase the evidence of a biogeog raphical relationship between Eurasia and Gondwanan continents at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All right s reserved.