Ampheristus

Ampheristus
Temporal range: Maastrichtian–Early Oligocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Ophidiiformes
Family: Ophidiidae
Genus: †Ampheristus
König, 1825
Type species
†Ampheristus toliapicus
König, 1825
Species

See text

Ampheristus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish. It was a basal or stem member of the family Ophidiidae, which contains modern cusk-eels. Fossils are known from worldwide (the United States, Europe, India, and New Zealand) from the Late Cretaceous to the late Paleogene (Maastrichtian to Oligocene), making it a rather successful survivor of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.[1]

It is one of the oldest known members of the order Ophidiiformes alongside Pastorius from the Maastrichtian of Italy.[2] Only the type species, A. toliapicus from the London Clay, is known from body fossils; the rest are known only by the genus's distinctive otoliths.[1]

Species

The following species are known:[3]

  • A. americanus Schwarzhans & Stringer, 2020 (Maastrichtian of Texas and Maryland, Danian of Arkansas)[1][4]
  • A. bavaricus (Koken, 1891) (Maastrichtian of Germany)
  • A. bhavnagarensis Singh, Patel & Rana, 2017 (Eocene of India)[5]
  • A. brevicauda Schwarzhans, 2010 (Maastrichtian of Germany)
  • A. brevicaudatus Lin, Steurbaut & Nolf, 2024 (Eocene of Alabama, Virginia and Maryland)[6]
  • A. neobavaricus Schwarzhans, 2012 (Paleocene of Germany)
  • A. pentlandensis Schwarzhans, 2019 (Eocene of New Zealand)
  • A. sinuocaudatus Schwarzhans, 1980 (Eocene of New Zealand)
  • A. sztrakosi Nolf & Steurbaut, 2004 (Oligocene of Italy)[7]
  • A. toliapicus König, 1825 (Eocene of the United Kingdom) (type species)
  • A. traunensis Schwarzhans, 2010 (Maastrichtian of Germany)

The species A. lerichei, known by a body fossil from the Eocene of Belgium and otoliths from the same region, is alternately placed in Ampheristus or Hoplobrotula.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c Schwarzhans, Werner; Stringer, Gary L. (2020-05-06). "Fish Otoliths from the Late Maastrichtian Kemp Clay (Texas, Usa) and the Early Danian Clayton Formation (Arkansas, Usa) and an Assessment of Extinction and Survival of Teleost Lineages Across the K-Pg Boundary Based on Otoliths". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. 126 (2). doi:10.13130/2039-4942/13425. ISSN 2039-4942.
  2. ^ Near, Thomas J; Thacker, Christine E (18 April 2024). "Phylogenetic classification of living and fossil ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65. doi:10.3374/014.065.0101.
  3. ^ "PBDB". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-02-16.
  4. ^ Stringer, Gary; Schwarzhans, Werner (2021-09-01). "Upper Cretaceous teleostean otoliths from the Severn Formation (Maastrichtian) of Maryland, USA, with an unusual occurrence of Siluriformes and Beryciformes and the oldest Atlantic coast Gadiformes". Cretaceous Research. 125: 104867. Bibcode:2021CrRes.12504867S. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104867. ISSN 0195-6671.
  5. ^ "Palaeogene Fish Otoliths from Lignite Associated Succession (Cambay Formation) Khadsaliya, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India". Gondwana Geological Society Nagpur, India. Retrieved 2024-02-16.
  6. ^ Lin, Chien-Hsiang; Steurbaut, Etienne; Nolf, Dirk (2024-06-04). "Early Eocene fish otoliths from the eastern and southern USA". European Journal of Taxonomy. 935: 203–240. doi:10.5852/ejt.2024.935.2557. ISSN 2118-9773.
  7. ^ Nolf, D.; Steurbaut, E. (2004). "Otolithes de poissons de l'oligocene inferieur du Bassin liguro-piémontais oriental, Italie" (PDF). Rivista Piemontese di Storia Naturale.
  8. ^ "PBDB". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-02-16.
  9. ^ Schwarzhans, Werner; Mörs, Thomas; Engelbrecht, Andrea; Reguero, Marcelo; Kriwet, Jürgen (2017-02-01). "Before the freeze: otoliths from the Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctica, reveal dominance of gadiform fishes (Teleostei)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 15 (2): 147–170. Bibcode:2017JSPal..15..147S. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1151958. ISSN 1477-2019. PMC 5221741. PMID 28077930.
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