Here we report on four highly peculiar skate teeth from Arcille and Certaldo, two Pliocene localities of Tuscany (central Italy). While being attributable to Rajiformes and somewhat reminiscent of Dipturus and Rostroraja, these specimens display an unusual multicuspid tooth design that does not match any extinct or extant skate taxon known to date. The studied teeth are thus referred to a new genus and species of Rajiformes, Nebriimimus wardi gen. et sp. nov., which is here tentatively assigned to the family Rajidae. Based on pronounced morphological similarities between the rather large-sized teeth of the latter and those of extant nurse sharks, we hypothesise that N. wardi might have been capable of actively foraging upon relatively large food items compared to other rays. This extinct skate species was likely not a common component of the Pliocene Tuscan marine vertebrate assemblages. The palaeoenvironmental scenarios that N. wardi inhabited were marginal-marine and open shelf settings characterised by tropical climate conditions. As N. wardi is currently known only from lower to mid-Pliocene deposits of the Mediterranean Basin, it is tempting to speculate that its speciation dates back to an earliest Pliocene phase of diversification that also contributed to the emergence of the Mediterranean endemic stock of extant skate species.

在这里，我们报告了托斯卡纳（意大利中部）的两个上新世地区Arcille和Certaldo的四个高度特殊的滑冰齿。这些标本虽然归因于Rajiformes，在某种程度上让人联想到Dipturus和Rostroraja，但它们显示出不寻常的多齿齿设计，与迄今已知的任何已灭绝或现存的滑冰分类单元都不符。因此，被研究的牙齿被称为拉吉甲目（Nebriimimus wardi gen）的一种新的属和种类。等 十一月，这是暂定为拉吉科（Rajidae）一家。基于后者较大的牙齿和现存的大鲨鱼的牙齿之间明显的形态相似性，我们假设华氏猪笼草与其他射线相比，也许能够主动觅食相对较大的食物。这种灭绝的滑冰物种可能不是上新世托斯卡纳海洋脊椎动物组合的常见组成部分。瓦尔迪猪笼草所居住的古环境场景是边缘海和以热带气候条件为特征的开放架子环境。由于瓦尔迪猪笼草目前仅从地中海盆地的上新世至中新世沉积物中获知，因此很容易推测其形态可以追溯到上新世早期的多样化阶段，这也促成了现存的地中海特有种的出现滑冰物种。