FINS - A global occurrence dataset of fossil neoselachians from the Cretaceous to the Quaternary

Motivation: Modern sharks, rays and skates (Neoselachii) are a diverse, globally distributed, and ecologically important group. They possess a rich, geologically extensive, and well-documented fossil record that provides a powerful basis for studying their macroevolution, paleoecology and biogeography. However, addressing paleobiological questions require quantifying the fossil record trough occurrences, i.e., records of the presence of a taxon at a unique location in space and time. Although the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) offers an invaluable source of fossil occurrences, it still does not provide a complete compilation of neoselachian data. To facilitate exploring questions in quantitative paleobiology, here we present the Fossil Neoselachian (FINS) dataset - a comprehensive, systematically curated global synthesis of fossil occurrences spanning the past 145 million years. Main types of variables contained: FINS consists of fossil occurrences, each linked to a collection (location where fossils were reported from) and a source (citation of the publications from which data was obtained). Occurrence data mostly consists of taxonomic variables (e.g., classification, names and ranks), status (extinct/extant) and abundance. Collection data provide geographic (e.g., country, ocean and paleo-coordinates) and geological (e.g., formation and age) variables. All data was subjected to a meticulous curation process, which is described through taxonomic and age validation variables. Spatial location and grain: Global, with fossil occurrences recovered from all continents. Time period and grain: From the Cretaceous to the Quaternary (145 - 0 Ma), with temporal resolution generally corresponding to geological stages or epochs. Major taxa and level of measurement: Neoselachians (superorders: Selachimorpha and Batoidea). FINS comprises 30,100 occurrences from 5,972 collections and 1,990 publications. It consists of 1,606 species, 512 genera, 88 families and 14 orders. Over 70% of occurrences are identified at the species level. Overall, FINS effectively doubles the number of neoselachian records previously available in the PBDB and substantially expands their geographic coverage, particularly in the Global South. Software format: The dataset is provided an .xlsx spreadsheet with four tabs - Collections, Occurrences, References_Literature and References_PBDB.