Taeniurops cavernosa ( Probst, 1877 )

Taeniurops cavernosa ( Probst, 1877)

Plate 7, Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 –10

* Raja cavernosa Probst 1877 : pl. 1, figs 1–4.

Trygon cavernosus Probst [ sic]— Serralheiro 1954: 77, pl. 2, figs 80–84, pl. 4, fig. 112.

Dasyatis cavernosa ( Probst, 1877) — Jonet 1978: 38, pl. 2, figs 35, 38.

Dasyatis cavernosa (Probst) — Antunes et al. 1981: 19, pl. 4, fig. 9.

Dasyatis cavernosa ( Probst, 1877) — Cappetta 1987: 163, text-figs 139a–e.

Dasyatis cavernosa ( Probst, 1877) — Müller 1999: 60, pl. 14, figs 1–10.

Taeniura cavernosa ( Probst, 1877) — Reinecke et al. 2011: 95, text-fig. 34, pl. 90, figs 1–5, pl. 91, figs 1–4. Dasyatis cavernosa Probst, 1877 [ sic]— Fialho 2015: 73, pl. 8, fig. 6.

Taeniurops cavernosa ( Probst, 1877) — Cappetta 2012: 417, text-fig. 408.

Taeniurops cavernosus ( Probst, 1877) — Fialho 2022: 150, pl. 9, figs G–I.

Material. 77 isolated teeth. NHMW 2025/0177/0029 (9).

Description. The teeth (Pl. 7, figs 1–5b, 7a, b, 10a, b) represent teeth of male individuals by the high, pointed transverse crest with well-developed labial ornamentation of fine pitting. Ten teeth (Pl. 7, figs 6a–c,8a, b, 9a, b) represent female individuals, having a low transverse crest also with well-develop ornamentation. The teeth are relatively small and show a quadrangular shape in occlusal view with rounded lingual and labial edges. The root is divided into two root lobes by a deep central groove.

Discussion. Antunes et al. (1999) reported Taeniura cf. grabbata specimens from the Miocene Portuguese fossil record that could be assigned to this species. Reinecke et al (2011) assigned the species to the genus Taeniura based on comparison with teeth of the extant species Taeniura grabbata (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1871) . However, Taeniura grabbata was reassigned to the genus Taeniurops by Cappetta (2012). That later was confirmed by Last et al. (2016).

Taeniurops cavernosa is one of the best represented species in the study assemblage. It is the most abundant in the bulk sample with 52 out of 319 specimens ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 ) and the 13 th most abundant in the search sample with 25 out of 2260 specimens ( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 ). The present-day Taeniurops grabatus inhabits sandy, muddy, or rocky shallow marine coastal habitats in the eastern Atlantic, from France to Angola, and the Medtirranean Sea, probably also the Red Sea ( Last et al. 2016). The present-day T. meyeni is found throughout the nearshore waters of the tropical Indo-West Pacific, as well as off islands in the eastern Pacific, north to China and Japan. It is a bottom-dwelling inhabitant of lagoons, estuaries, and reefs, generally inshore but reported from depths of, at least, 400 m ( Last et al. 2016). According to Szabó et al. (2022), based on the ecology of present-day relatives, T. cavernosa was a tropical/ subtropical species.

Distribution. Upper Oligocene (Chattian): Catahoula Fm. of Mississipi, USA ( Cicimurri et al. 2025). Lower Miocene: southwestern Germany ( Cappetta 1987). Miocene: North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia ( Müller 1999).

Distribution in Portugal. Lower Miocene: (Burdigalian) Lower Tagus Basin ( Serralheiro 1954). Middle Miocene: (Langhian–Serravallian) Lower Tagus Basin ( Fialho 2022); Algarve Basin, Lagos–Portimão Fm., Portugal ( Antunes et al. 1981). Upper Miocene: (Tortonian) Lower Tagus Basin ( Serralheiro 1954; Jonet 1978), Algarve Basin, Cacela Fm. (this paper).