A pristid sawfish from the lower Pliocene of Lucciolabella (Radicofani basin, Tuscany, central Italy)

In this paper we report on a partially preserved rostral spine attributed to Anoxypristis? sp. from lower Pliocene (Zanclean) marine deposits exposed at Lucciolabella (Province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy). This finding represents the first unambiguous record of pristids in lower Pliocene deposits of Italy, corroborating the persistence of sawfish in the Mediterranean basin after the so-called Messinian Salinity Crisis. Our finding supports the hypothesis of the persistence of climatic and ecological conditions propitious to warm-water marine vertebrates along the early Pliocene coasts of Tuscany and suggests that, after centuries of scientific study, the Pliocene elasmobranch palaeocommunities of Tuscany can still bring surprises.