New Species of Hybodont Shark

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    In News 

    • In a rare discovery, teeth of a new species of hybodontshark  of the Jurassic age have been reported for the first time from Jaisalmer by a team of officers from the Geological Survey of India (GSI).

    About 

    • Origin: 
      • Hybodont sharks have been reported for the first time from the Jurassic rocks (approximately, between 160 and 168 million years old) of the Jaisalmer region of Rajasthan. 
      •  Hybodonts, an extinct group of sharks, was a dominant group of fishes in both marine and fluvial environments during the Triassic and early Jurassic times. 
    • Decline: 
      • Hybodont sharks started to decline in marine environments from the Middle Jurassic onwards until they formed a relatively minor component of open-marine shark assemblages. 
      • Hybodonts finally became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous time 65 million years ago.
    • Newly discovered crushing teeth: 
      • The newly discovered crushing teeth from Jaisalmer represent a new species named by the research team as Strophodusjaisalmerensis. 
      • The genus Strophodus has been identified for the first time from the Indian subcontinent and is only the third such record from Asia
        • The other two being from Japan and Thailand. 
      • The new species has recently been included in the Shark references.com
        • An international platform operating in association with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Species Survival Commission (SSC), and Germany.

                                   Image Courtesy: PIB

    • Significance 
      • This discovery marks an important milestone in the study of Jurassic vertebrate fossils in the Jaisalmer region of Rajasthan, and it opens a new window for further research in the domain of vertebrate fossils.                             

    Geological Survey of India (GSI)

    • It was founded in 1851 under the Ministry of Mines primarily to find coal deposits for the Railways.
    • It is one of the oldest organisations in the world and the second oldest survey in India after the Survey after Survey of India (founded in 1767).
    • GSI is the official participant in steel, coal, metals, cement, power industries and international geoscientific forums.
    • Functions 
      • Its main functions relate to creating and updating national geoscientific information and mineral resource assessment. 
        • These objectives are achieved through ground surveys, air-borne and marine surveys, mineral prospecting and investigations, multi-disciplinary geoscientific, geo-technical, geo-environmental and natural hazards studies, glaciology, seismic tectonic study, and carrying out fundamental research.
      • It is also the prime provider of basic earth science information to the government, industry and general public.

     

    Source: PIB

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