Egertonia (named after paleontologist Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 10th Baronet) is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine and estuarine ray-finned fish known from the Late Cretaceous to the middle Eocene.[1][2] It contains one known species, E. isodonta, although indeterminate remains potentially referable to other species are also known. It was a member of the Phyllodontidae, an extinct family of elopomorph fish with crushing tooth plates, which are the primary remains found of the genus.[3]
Excluding dubious records from the Campanian (Tar Heel Formation) and Maastrichtian (Severn Formation) of eastern North America,[2] the earliest confirmed occurrences of the genus in the fossil record are from the Maastrichtian of Madagascar (Maevarano Formation) and Tamil Nadu, India (Kallamedu Formation). These formations are suggestive of a fluvial-estuarine environment with frequent marine intrusions. Notably, despite Egertonia expanding its range to the Northern Hemisphere during the Cenozoic, both of these early localities are Gondwanan in origin. These fossil tooth plates are reminiscent of E. isodonta.[3][4]
