Cretaceous Selachians from the Peedee Formation 
(Late Maestrichtian) of Duplin County, North Carolina 1 
Gerard R. Case 
129 Carlton Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey 07306 
ABSTRACT. — A shark-tooth fauna of Late Cretaceous (Navarroan, 
Late Maestrichtian) age from the uppermost member of the Peedee For- 
mation was recovered from three sites in southern Duplin County, 
North Carolina. Species represented include Hybodus sp. 1; Squalicorax 
kaupi and S. pnstodontus; the goblin shark Scapanorhynchus texanus; 
Odontaspis sp.; Cretolamna appendiculata lata; C. biaunculata (the first New 
World record of this species) and C. serrata; Plicatolamna cf. P. arcuata\ the 
sawfish Ischyrhiza mira; and the ray Rhomb odus cf. R. binkhorsti. This 
Peedee assemblage adds significantly to the still-limited roster of Late 
Maestrichtian shark faunas of the world. 
INTRODUCTION 
The Peedee Formation is an Upper Cretaceous deposit of neritic 
marine origin (Heron and Wheeler 1964) which spans the Tayloran and 
Navarroan provincial stages (Brouwers and Hazel 1978), equivalent to 
the Late Campanian and the entire Maestrichtian stages of Europe. At 
the present time the deposit’s various phases of regression and deposition 
are not named as members. This paper deals with the selachian fauna of 
an “uppermost” member of the Peedee that is Navarroan (Late 
Maestrichtian) in age. As shown below, the shark species of this member 
correspond to those known Late Maestrichtian faunas found elsewhere in 
the United States and other parts of the world. 
The selachian fauna described here is distinct from that of the Black 
Creek Formation (Miller 1967, 1968; Baird and Horner 1979), which un- 
derlies the Peedee in North Carolina. A transition of several of the species 
from the Black Creek up into the Peedee is normal, but other species ap- 
pear in the Peedee that were not present in the Black Creek. 
The marine vertebrate fauna of the Maestrichtian in North America is 
poorly known. I have under study additional faunas of that age from 
widely separated localities (in Maryland and Texas) that should, when 
described, make our knowledge of the Late Maestrichtian much clearer. 
One of these faunas, like that of the Peedee described here, contains only 
megascopic species; the other contains a microfauna as well. Using this 
undescribed material for comparison I endeavor here to place on record 
Additions to the fossil vertebrate fauna of North Carolina, Part I. 
Brimleyana No. 2: 77-89. November 1979 
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