Acrotemnus Temporal range: Turonian, | |
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A. faba holotype, Natural History Museum, London | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | † Pycnodontiformes |
Family: | † Pycnodontidae |
Genus: | † Acrotemnus Agassiz, 1836 |
Type species | |
†Acrotemnus faba Agassiz, 1836 | |
Species | |
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Synonyms | |
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Acrotemnus is an extinct genus of marine pycnodontid ray-finned fish known from Europe, North America, and Africa during the Turonian stage of the Upper Cretaceous. North American species could reach comparatively giant sizes for pycnodonts. [1]
The following species are known: [2]
An indeterminate potential species is also known from the Turonian of Nigeria (Benue Trough). [2] [5]
Acrotemnus was initially known from just the type species A. faba described by Louis Agassiz in 1843 from specimens collected in England. [3] In 1939, Hibbard described a large-sized pycnodont from a tooth plate from Kansas, which he placed in Coelodus as C. streckeri. In 2010, Shimada, Williamson & Sealey described a gigantic pycnodont known from a few tooth plates found in New Mexico as Macropycnodon megafrendodon, placing C. streckeri in the same genus. [1] However, in 2021, Shimada, Portillo, and Cronin described a partial skeleton of a pycnodont from Texas as potentially being a specimen of A. streckeri. This specimen revealed close similarities between the anatomy of Macropycnodon and Acrotemnus, leading to the lumping of the former into the latter. [2]
A. megafrendodon is known from isolated teeth, the largest being 1.75 centimetres (0.69 in) in width. A comparision between the tooth-to-body size ratio of more completely known relatives, such as Coelodus saturnus , suggests that A. megafrendodon could have reached comparatively gigantic body sizes of over 1–1.2 metres (3.3–3.9 ft). This would make it among the largest pycnodonts, especially given that the majority do not reach over 25 centimetres (9.8 in) in length. [1] The partial specimen of A. cf. streckeri described in 2021 is estimated to have been roughly 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length, supporting these estimates. [2]
Cretoxyrhina is an extinct genus of large mackerel shark that lived about 107 to 73 million years ago during the late Albian to late Campanian of the Late Cretaceous. The type species, C. mantelli, is more commonly referred to as the Ginsu shark, first popularized in reference to the Ginsu knife, as its theoretical feeding mechanism is often compared with the "slicing and dicing" when one uses the knife. Cretoxyrhina is traditionally classified as the likely sole member of the family Cretoxyrhinidae but other taxonomic placements have been proposed, such as within the Alopiidae and Lamnidae.
Ptychodus is a genus of extinct large durophagous (shell-crushing) lamniform sharks from the Cretaceous period, spanning from the Albian to the Campanian. Fossils of Ptychodus teeth are found in many Late Cretaceous marine sediments worldwide.
Apateodus is a genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish which was described by Woodward in 1901. It was a relative of modern lizardfish and lancetfish in the order Aulopiformes, and one of a number of prominent nektonic aulopiforms of Cretaceous marine ecosystems.
Caproberyx is an extinct genus of marine acanthomorph ray-finned fish, possibly a holocentrid, from the Late Cretaceous.
Bananogmius is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish that was found in what is now North America and Europe during the Late Cretaceous, from the Cenomanian to the Santonian. It lived in the Western Interior Seaway, which split North America in two during the Late Cretaceous, as well as the proto-North Sea of Europe.
Pycnodontiformes is an extinct order of primarily marine bony fish. The group first appeared during the Late Triassic and disappeared during the Eocene. The group has been found in rock formations in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America.
Elopopsis is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish that lived during the Late Cretaceous of Europe, North Africa and North America. It was a member of the Crossognathiformes, in the family Pachyrhizodontidae.
Anomoeodus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Pycnodontidae. This genus primarily lived during the mid-to-late Cretaceous period, ranging from the Albian to the very end of the Maastrichtian age, and possibly into the Danian. The first fossils of Anomoeodus were described by Louis Agassiz in 1833, although they were described under Pycnodus. Some studies have recovered it as a wastebasket taxon.
Coelodus is an extinct genus of marine and possibly freshwater pycnodont fish. It contains only one definitive species, C. saturnusHeckel, 1854, from the Late Cretaceous of Slovenia. Other species from the Late Jurassic to the Eocene have also been attributed to this genus based on isolated dental elements, but their assignment to Coelodus is uncertain, and this genus likely represents a non-monophyletic wastebasket taxon. A potential diagnostic trait is a prearticular tooth row with three regular highly elongated teeth.
Cylindracanthus is an extinct, enigmatic genus of marine ray-finned fish with fossils known throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa from the Late Cretaceous to the late Eocene, with potential Oligocene records and a possible Miocene record also known. It is exclusively known from its distinctive partial remains, which are long cylindrical bony spines that are usually considered rostrum fragments, as well as some associated teeth. These spines are abundant & widespread throughout this timespan, and are useful indicators of a nearshore marine environment, but the taxonomic identity of the fish is still highly uncertain and debated.
Plethodus is an extinct genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish. It is the type genus of the family Plethodidae.
The Carlile Shale is a Turonian age Upper/Late Cretaceous series shale geologic formation in the central-western United States, including in the Great Plains region of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Bonnerichthys is a genus of fossil fishes within the family Pachycormidae that lived during the Coniacian to Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Fossil remains of this taxon were first described from the Smoky Hill Member of the Niobrara Chalk Formation of Kansas, and additional material was later reported from the Pierre Shale, Mooreville Chalk, Demopolis Chalk, Wenonah Formation, and Moreno Formation, among other localities. It grew to at least 5 metres (16 ft) in total body length, substantially less than the related Leedsichthys from the Jurassic which likely grew up to 16.5 metres (54 ft).
Rhinconichthys is an extinct genus of bony fish which existed during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.
Cardabiodon is an extinct genus of large mackerel shark that lived about 95 to 91 million years ago (Ma) during the Cenomanian to Turonian of the Late Cretaceous. It is a member of the Cardabiodontidae, a family unique among mackerel sharks due to differing dental structures, and contains the two species C. ricki and C. venator. Cardabiodon fossils have been found in Australia, North America, England, and Kazakhstan. It was likely an antitropical shark that inhabited temperate neritic and offshore oceans between 40° and 60° paleolatitude, similar to the modern porbeagle shark.
The Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale is a geologic unit in Utah. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period; and more specifically the middle Turonian.
Pycnodontidae is an extinct family of ray-finned fishes, ranging from the Jurassic period until the Eocene. It was the largest and most derived family of the successful Mesozoic fish order Pycnodontiformes, and one of only two families to survive into the Cenozoic.
This list of fossil fishes described in 2016 is a list of new taxa of jawless vertebrates, placoderms, acanthodians, fossil cartilaginous fishes, bony fishes and other fishes of every kind that have been described during the year 2016, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of fishes that occurred in the year 2016. The list only includes taxa at the level of genus or species.
Agassizilia is an extinct genus of both freshwater and marine pycnodont fishes from the mid-late Cretaceous. The genus is named after paleontologist Louis Agassiz.
Pentanogmius is an extinct genus of sail-finned ray-finned fish that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Europe and the United States. Five species are currently recognized, 2 from Cenomanian to Turonian Europe and 3 better known species from Coniacian to Campanian North America. The American species inhabited large areas of the Western Interior Seaway, with fossil finds indicating a range from Texas and Alabama in the south to Manitoba, Canada, in the north.