Latest European coelacanth shows Gondwanan affinities
Résumé
The last European fossil occurrence of a coelacanth is from the Mid-Cretaceous of the English Chalk (Turonian, 90 million years ago). Here, we report the discovery of a coelacanth from Late Cretaceous non-marine rocks in southern France. It consists of a left angular bone showing structures that imply close phylogenetic affinities with some extinct Mawsoniidae. The closest relatives are otherwise known from Cretaceous continental deposits of southern continents and suggest that the dispersal of freshwater organisms from Africa to Europe occurred in the Late Cretaceous.