Monte Bolca is a lagerstätte near Verona, Italy that was one of the first fossil sites with high quality preservation known to Europeans, and is still an important source of fossils from the Eocene.
The cornetfishes or flutemouths are a small family, the Fistulariidae, of extremely elongated fishes in the order Syngnathiformes. The family consists of a single genus, Fistularia, with four species, found worldwide in tropical and subtropical marine environments.
Eobothus is an extinct genus of very small, fossil marine flatfish known the Eocene. It is one of the oldest flatfish known from fossil remains.
The trumpetfishes are three species of highly specialized, tubularly-elongated marine fishes in the genus Aulostomus, of the monogeneric family Aulostomidae. The trumpetfishes are members of the order Syngnathiformes, together with the seahorses and the similarly built, closely related cornetfishes.
Ceratoichthys is an extinct genus of lookdown-like prehistoric jackfish that lived during the late Ypresian epoch, of the Early Eocene. It contains a single species, C. pinnatiformis of Monte Bolca, Italy. It and Vomeropsis are the only known members of the extinct subfamily Vomeropsinae.
Aeoliscoides is an extinct genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that lived from the early Eocene. It is known from a single species, A. longirostris, from the famous Monte Bolca site of Italy. It was a member of Centriscidae, making it a relative of modern shrimpfish and snipefish. Its name references its close resemblance to the extant shrimpfish genus Aeoliscus.
Aulostomoides is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish from the early Eocene. It contains a single species, A. tyleri from the Monte Bolca site of Italy. It is thought to be a member of Aulostomoidea, making it a relative of trumpetfish and cornetfish.
Aulorhamphus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived from the early to middle Eocene. It contains four species known from the Early Eocene of Italy and the Middle Eocene of Russia. It was an aulorhamphid, an extinct family of syngnathiform fishes.
Bolcyrus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine eel that lived during the Early Eocene. It was a member of the family Congridae, which also contains modern conger eels.
Eoanguilla is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine eel that lived during the early Eocene. It contains a single species, E. leptoptera from the Ypresian-aged Monte Bolca site of Italy. It is thought to have been an early marine relative of the modern freshwater eels.
Bolcanguilla is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine eel that lived during the early division of the Eocene epoch. It contains a single species, B. brachycephala from the Monte Bolca site of Italy. Its exact taxonomic affinities within the Anguilliformes remain uncertain.
Acanthonemus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived from the early Eocene. It contains a single species, A. subaureus, known from the famous Monte Bolca site in Italy. It is the only genus in the extinct family Acanthonemidae.
Carangopsis is an extinct relative of the bluefish that lived during the early Eocene. It contains two species, both from the famous Monte Bolca site of Italy.
Carangodes is an extinct genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that lived during the early Eocene. It contains a single species, C. bicornis, from the famous Monte Bolca site in Italy. It is the only known member of the extinct perciform family Carangodidae.
Platinx is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish that inhabited the northern Tethys Ocean during the early to middle Eocene. It was the last surviving member of the ancient order Crossognathiformes, which was a dominant and successful group throughout the preceding Mesozoic era.
The Platyrhinidae are a family of rays, commonly known as thornbacks due to their dorsal rows of large thorns. They resemble guitarfishes in shape. Though traditionally classified with stingrays, molecular evidence suggests they are more closely related to electric rays in the order Torpediniformes.
Pristigenys is a genus of marine ray-finned fish in the family Priacanthidae. It contains five extant species and one extinct species, P. substriata, which is known from fossils found in the Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy.
Cyclopoma is an extinct genus of marine perciform fish from the Eocene. It is known from the Ypresian to the Lutetian of Europe and eastern North America.
The Matt Formation is an Early Oligocene-aged marine geological formation that outcrops in the Glarus Alps of the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It is most notable for its fossiliferous slates found near Engi, known as the Engi slates, Glarner Schiefer or Glarner Fischschiefer, which contain the well-preserved fossils of fishes, birds, and sea turtles. The metamorphization of the rock has led to many of the fossils appearing somewhat distorted.
The Eocene-aged Monte Bolca fossil site near Verona, Italy was one of the first lagerstatte to be discovered to science, and still has one of the most prominent vertebrate faunas of all Cenozoic lagerstatte. It has the highest fish diversity of all known Cenozoic fossil sites, with many fossils having extremely detailed preservation. In addition, a very high diversity of marine invertebrates & land plants and a small number of land vertebrates are also known.
