Morphometric Discriminant Analysis of isolated chondrichthyan scales for palaeoecological inferences: the Middle Triassic of the Iberian Chain (Spain) as a case of study

[EN] Palaeontological studies on exosqueletal disarticulated remains of chondrichthyans have focused on teeth and only less interest has been paid to scales due their limited taxonomic and systematic significance. However, classical works linking the morphology and the function of the squamation in extant sharks suggest that, despite their limited taxonomic value, the study of isolated scales can be a useful tool for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological inferences. Following this idea, we have analyzed the fossil record of shark scales from two Middle Triassic sections of the Iberian Chain (Spain), identifying different functional types by means of a morphometric discriminant analysis. …