Elopidae

Not to be confused with Elapidae.

Elopidae Temporal range: Late Jurassic to present [1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Elops saurus
Davichthys , a fossil elopid from the Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Elopiformes
Family:	Elopidae Bonaparte, 1832
Type species
Elops saurus Linnaeus, 1766
Genera
See text
Synonyms [2]
Elopina Günther 1868 Siagonotes Duméril 1805

The Elopidae are an ancient family of ray-finned fish, one of two living members of the order Elopiformes. They containing a single living genus, Elops , and many extinct genera dating back to the Late Jurassic, when the earliest stem-group elopids are known. They appear to have diverged from their closest relatives, the Megalopidae, during the Jurassic. ^[1]

Etymology

The name comes from the Ancient Greek ἔλοψ (élops), variant of ἔλλοψ (éllops), referring to a kind of serpent or serpentlike sea fish. ^[3] Compare the name of the unrelated family Elapidae.

Taxonomy

The following genera are known:

• Elops Linnaeus 1766 non Bonaparte 1831 non Commerson ex Lacépède, 1801 - Early Cretaceous (Aptian) to present
• † Ctenodentelops Forey et al., 2003 - Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Lebanon ^[4]
• † Davichthys Forey 1973 - Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) of Europe and the Middle East
• † Elopsomolos Arratia, 2000 - Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Germany ^{[1] [5]}
• † Ichthyemidion Arratia, 1995 - Early Cretaceous of Spain ^{[1] [6]}
• † Italoelops Taverne & Capasso, 2024 - Early Cretaceous (Aptian) of Italy ^[7]
• † Kipalelops Taverne, 1976 - Late Cretaceous of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ^[8]
• † Landanaelops Taverne & Smith, 2025 - Middle Paleocene of Angola ^[8]
• † Lyrolepis Romanowski 1886 non Rechiger, 1943 - Oligocene of North Caucasus, Russia
• † Nardoelops Taverne & Capasso, 2012 - Late Cretaceous (Campanian or Maastrichtian) of Italy ^[8]
•  ?† Opisthopteryx Pictet & Humbert, 1866 - Santonian of Lebanon ^[9]
•  ?† Palelops Applegate, 1970 - Late Cretaceous of Alabama, USA
• † Protelops Laube, 1885 - Cenomanian of England ^[4]
•  ?† Sauropsidium Costa 1850 - Early Cretaceous of Italy ^[9]
•  ?† Thrissopteroides von der Marck, 1873 - Late Cretaceous of Germany and Lebanon ^[9]

See also

• Tarpon

References

1. Near, Thomas J.; Thacker, Christine E. (2024-04-18). "Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65 (1). doi:10.3374/014.065.0101. ISSN   0079-032X.
2. "Elopidae" (PDF). Deeplyfish- fishes of the world. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
3. Froese, R.; Pauly, D. (2017). "Elopidae". FishBase version (02/2017). Retrieved 18 May 2017.
4. Amalfitano, Jacopo; Giusberti, Luca; Fornaciari, Eliana; Carnevale, Giorgio (2020-04-03). "UPPER CENOMANIAN FISHES FROM THE BONARELLI LEVEL (OAE2) OF NORTHEASTERN ITALY". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. 126 (2). doi:10.13130/2039-4942/13224. ISSN   2039-4942.
5. Arratia, Gloria (2000). "Remarkable teleostean fishes from the Late Jurassic of southern Germany and their phylogenetic relationships". Fossil Record. 3 (1): 137–179. doi:10.1002/mmng.20000030108. ISSN   1860-1014.
6. POYATO-ARIZA, F. J (1995). "Ichthyemidion, a new genus for the elopiform fish «Anaethalion» vidali, from the Early Cretaceous of Spain: phylogenetic comments". Ichthyemidion, a new genus for the elopiform fish «Anaethalion» vidali, from the Early Cretaceous of Spain: phylogenetic comments. 320 (2): 133–139. ISSN   1251-8050.
7. Taverne, Louis; Capasso, Luigi (2024). "OSTEOLOGY AND RELATIONSHIPS OF ITALOELOPS FOREYI GEN. AND SP. NOV. (TELEOSTEI, ELOPIFORMES) FROM THE ALBIAN (LOWER CRETACEOUS) OF PIETRAROJA (CAMPANIA, SOUTHERN ITALY)" (PDF). Atti Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Trieste. XII (65): 7–21.
8. Taverne, L.; Smith, T. (2025). "First Paleocene elopid fish (Teleostei, Elopiformes): Landanaelops gunnelli gen. and sp. nov. from the marine margin of the Congo Basin, Cabinda, Angola" (PDF). Proceedings of the Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences.
9. Geology, British Museum (Natural History) Department of; Woodward, Arthur Smith (1901). Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History): Actinopterygian Teleostomi of the suborders Isospondyli (in part), Ostariophysi, Apodes, Percesoces, Hemibranchii, Acanthopterygii, and Anacanthini. order of the Trustees.