Bransonella Harlton, 1933

Johnson, Gary D. & Thayer, David W., 2009, Early Pennsylvanian xenacanth chondrichthyans from the Swisshelm Mountains, Arizona, USA, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 54 (4), pp. 649-668 : 663

Genus Bransonella Harlton, 1933

Type species: Bransonella tridentata Harlton, 1933 . Lower Pennsylvanian Johns Valley Shale; Zidek (1972: 175; 1973: 94, fig. 3) stated the horizon is slightly below the Johns Valley, but no reason was provided; Bashkirian (Morrowan) age.

Diagnosis.—Relatively long intermediate cusp, often nearly equal to principal cusps; crown large relative to base; prominent straight to sigmoidal cristae forming chevrons on labial side of all three cusps that usually extend onto base; dominant apical button; central foramen absent. See Ivanov and Ginter (1996) and Ivanov (2005).

Stratigraphic and geographic range.—Upper Devonian (Famennian)?, Mississippian (Tournasian) to Early Permian (Sakmarian); North and South America, Europe, and Asia.