Caturus

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Caturus
Temporal range: Early Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, 200–140  Ma
Caturus furcatus 337.jpg
Fossil specimen of C. furcatus from Germany, Upper Jurassic
Caturus NT.jpg
Life restoration
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Clade: Halecomorphi
Order: Amiiformes
Family: Caturidae
Genus: Caturus
Agassiz, 1843
Type species
Pachycormus furcatus
Agassiz, 1833
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • UraeusAgassiz, 1832

Caturus (from Greek : κατωkato, 'down' and Greek : οὐράourá 'tail') [1] [2] is an extinct genus of predatory marine fishes in the family Caturidae in the order Amiiformes, related to modern bowfin. It has been suggested that the genus is non-monophyletic with respect to other caturid genera. [3]

Contents

Fossils of this genus range from 200 to 140 mya (Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous). [4] [5]

Taxonomy

Caturus has a confused taxonomic history. The genus was originally described by Louis Agassiz for two fossil fish (U. pachyurus and U. gracilis) that had been previously described in the genus Uraeus, which was found to already be preoccupied by a genus of cobra of the same name (now classified as a subgenus within Naja ). However, neither of these species were properly described with an associated illustration or proper description, and they remain nomen dubia; the specimen of U. pachyurus is lost, and the specimen of Caturus gracilis is too poorly-preserved to assign a specific taxon. Later, the species C. furcatus, initially described by Agassiz within Pachycormus , was designated as the type species of the genus by Woodward, but this was incorrect as the type species of a genus must be one of the species originally described for it. These inconsistencies make both Caturus and Pachycormus (which was initially described with Uraeus gracilis as one of its species) taxonomically unstable genera, necessitating a petition to the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature to retain C. furcatus as the type species of Caturus. [4]

Species

Life restoration of C. smithwoodwardi Caturus smithwoodwardi.png
Life restoration of C. smithwoodwardi

The following species are known: [4]

A number of species are no longer recognized. The species C. angustusAgassiz, 1844, C. branchiostegusAgassiz, 1834, C. brevicostatusMünster, 1842, C. contractusWagner, 1863, C. drianiThiollière, 1851, C. elongatusAgassiz, 1834, C. gracilisWagner, 1863, C. maximusAgassiz, 1834, C. microchirusAgassiz, 1834 and C. pleiodusAgassiz, 1844 are considered nomina dubia , while C. fusiformisWagner, 1863 is considered a nomen nudum . The species C. stenospondylusSauvage, 1875, C. stenouraSauvage, 1875, and C. chaperiSauvage, 1883 are all considered synonyms of Pachycormus macropterus , while C. cotteauiSauvage, 1875 is considered a synonym of Euthynotus intermedius . The species C. retrodorsalisSauvage, 1891 has been reclassified in Pholidophorus . Other species such as C. giganteus(Wagner, 1851) have been reclassified into other genera within the family Caturidae, such as Strobilodus . The species C. brevisWinkler, 1862, C. latidensWoodward, 1918, and C. veliferThiollière, 1851, are no longer classified in Caturus or even Caturidae, and are yet to be reclassified. [4]

The species C. insignis from the Triassic of Austria, formerly placed in Caturus, is now placed in the genus Furo . Another potential record from Argentina is now placed as an indeterminate caturoid, possibly in the genus Catutoichthys . [4] [5] [6]

Distribution

When restricted to only definitive species, Caturus is present in the Jurassic of the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and Cuba, ranging into the earliest Cretaceous of the United Kingdom and Spain. Indeterminate remains are also known within this range from the Jurassic of France and Portugal. [2] [4]

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Roberts, George (1839). An etymological and explanatory dictionary of the terms and language of geology. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans. p. 27. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 "PBDB Taxon". Paleobiology Database . Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  3. Gouiric-Cavalli, Soledad (2016-06-09). "A new Late Jurassic halecomorph fish from the marine Vaca Muerta Formation, Argentina, southwestern Gondwana". Fossil Record. 19 (2): 119–129. Bibcode:2016FossR..19..119G. doi: 10.5194/fr-19-119-2016 . hdl: 11336/54624 . ISSN   2193-0074.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 López-Arbarello, Adriana; Ebert, Martin (2023). "Taxonomic status of the caturid genera (Halecomorphi, Caturidae) and their Late Jurassic species". Royal Society Open Science. 10 (1). Bibcode:2023RSOS...1021318L. doi:10.1098/rsos.221318. ISSN   2054-5703. PMC   9832298 . PMID   36686548.
  5. 1 2 Bogan, Sergio; Taverne, Louis; Federico, Agnolini (2013). "First Triassic and oldest record of a South American amiiform fish: Caturus sp. from the Los Menucos Group (lower Upper Triassic), Río Negro province, Argentina". Geologica Belgica. 16 (3): 191–195.
  6. López-Arbarello, Adriana; Concheyro, Andrea; Palma, Ricardo M.; Aguirre-Urreta, Beatriz (2023-12-05). "The early fossil record of Caturoidea (Halecomorphi: Amiiformes): biogeographic implications". Swiss Journal of Palaeontology . 142 (1): 33. Bibcode:2023SwJP..142...33L. doi: 10.1186/s13358-023-00297-z . ISSN   1664-2384.