Apateodus Temporal range: | |
---|---|
Lower jaw fragment of A. corneti | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Aulopiformes |
Family: | † Ichthyotringidae |
Genus: | † Apateodus Woodward, 1901 |
Type species | |
† Pachyrhizodus glyphodus Blake, 1863 | |
Species | |
See text |
Apateodus (meaning "confusing tooth") 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. [1] [2]
The genus spans from the Albian to the late Maastrichtian, and appears to have been distributed worldwide; specimens have been found in Russia, India, the United States (Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas), Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. [1]
Apateodus has generally been placed in the suborder Enchodontoidei alongside most other Cretaceous nektonic aulopiforms, although its affinities have long been uncertain. However, since the 2000s, it has generally been placed in the family Ichthyotringidae. [3] [4] However, some authors have still placed it as an indeterminate enchodontoid, ichthyotringoid, alepisauroid, or even elsewhere in the Aulopiformes as the sister to the barracudinas, the latter two of which have been contradicted by anatomical studies. [3] [5] [6] [7]
The following species are known: [1] [2]
Indeterminate remains are known from the Turonian of Canada (Kaskapau Formation of Alberta), the Albian of Russia (Belgorod), and the Cenomanian to Santonian of the United States (Greenhorn Limestone of Colorado & Iowa, Carlile Shale of Kansas, and the Niobrara Formation of South Dakota). [1] A potential undescribed genus closely allied to Apateodus was identified in 2020 from fossils from Kansas. [12]
Known by well preserved skull remains, Apateodus is estimated to be around 1 meter (3.3ft) in length, and would have been an effective mesopredator. [2]
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Enchodus is an extinct genus of aulopiform ray-finned fish related to lancetfish and lizardfish. Species of Enchodus flourished during the Late Cretaceous, where they were a widespread component of marine ecosystems worldwide, and there is some evidence that they may have survived to the Paleocene or Eocene; however, this may just represent reworked Cretaceous material.
Cimolichthys is an extinct genus of large predatory marine aulopiform ray-finned fish known worldwide from the Late Cretaceous. It is the only member of the family Cimolichthyidae.
Dercetis is a genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish. It is the type genus of the family Dercetidae, a group of slender, elongate aulopiforms, which were related to modern lizardfish and grinners. It is known from the Late Cretaceous of Europe, the Middle East, and western North America.
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.
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Aulolepis is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived from the middle Cenomanian to the late Turonian. It contains a single species, A. typus from the Chalk Group of the United Kingdom and the Hesseltal Formation of Germany.
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.
Eokrefftia is an extinct genus of lanternfish that inhabited the seas around Europe and Australia throughout the Paleogene. Known only from its distinctive fossilized otoliths, it appears to be one of the earliest definitive fossil members of the lanternfish lineage. It may belong to the extinct subfamily Eomyctophinae.
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 from the Late Cretaceous to the late Paleogene, making it a rather successful survivor of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
Bathylagus is a genus of deep-sea smelts, some species of which are noted for having stylophthalmine larvae.
Ctenothrissa is a prehistoric genus of marine ray-finned fish in the order Ctenothrissiformes. It contains a number of species known from the Late Cretaceous of England and Lebanon.
Pythonichthys is a genus of eels of the family Heterenchelyidae that occur in tropical waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean off of Panama and in the Atlantic Ocean near the Caribbean Sea and the west coast of Africa. It contains the following described species:
This list of fossil fishes described in 2015 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 2015, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of fishes that occurred in the year 2015. The list only includes taxa at the level of genus or species.
Armigatus is an extinct genus of marine clupeomorph fishes belonging to the order Ellimmichthyiformes. These fishes lived in the Cretaceous ; their fossil remains have been found in Mexico, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, suggesting the genus ranged across the Tethys Sea.
Cheirothricidae is a family of extinct marine ray-finned fish, perhaps belonging to the Aulopiformes, although they are tentatively placed as indeterminate eurypterygians. They lived during the Upper Cretaceous and their fossil remains are found in the Middle East and Europe. They were characterized by very expanded even fins.
Ichthyotringidae is an extinct family of aulopiform ray-finned fish known from the Early to Late Cretaceous. It is one of the Enchodontoidei, a diverse group of aulopiforms that were dominant marine fish during the Cretaceous.