Ampheristus

Ampheristus Temporal range: Maastrichtian–Early Oligocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
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. americanusSchwarzhans & Stringer, 2020 (Maastrichtian of Texas and Maryland, Danian of Arkansas) ^{[1] [4]}
• A. bavaricus (Koken, 1891) (Maastrichtian of Germany)
• A. bhavnagarensisSingh, Patel & Rana, 2017 (Eocene of India) ^[5]
• A. brevicaudaSchwarzhans, 2010 (Maastrichtian of Germany)
• A. brevicaudatusLin, Steurbaut & Nolf, 2024 (Eocene of Alabama, Virginia and Maryland) ^[6]
• A. neobavaricusSchwarzhans, 2012 (Paleocene of Germany)
• A. pentlandensisSchwarzhans, 2019 (Eocene of New Zealand)
• A. sinuocaudatusSchwarzhans, 1980 (Eocene of New Zealand)
• A. sztrakosiNolf & Steurbaut, 2004 (Oligocene of Italy) ^[7]
• A. toliapicusKönig, 1825 (Eocene of the United Kingdom) (type species)
• A. traunensisSchwarzhans, 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. 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.