| Gasterorhamphosus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Syngnathiformes |
| Suborder: | Syngnathoidei |
| Genus: | † Gasterorhamphosus Sorbini, 1981 |
| Species: | †G. zuppichini |
| Binomial name | |
| †Gasterorhamphosus zuppichini Sorbini, 1981 | |
Gasterorhamphosus is an extinct genus of marine syngnathiform fish that lived during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. [1] It contains a single species, G. zuppichini from the Calcari di Melissano formation of Italy. [2]
It is the oldest known syngnathiform fish, making it distantly related to modern seahorses, pipefish, and trumpetfish. [3] It shares an especially close similarity to modern snipefish, and has sometimes been placed in the same clade as them (the Centriscoidea). [4] Others have found it to instead belong to the Aulostomoidea, containing trumpetfish and cornetfish. [3] However, other analyses indicate that it likely occupies a more stemward position within the group. [4] Despite this, studies have found it to at least group within the "long-snouted" clade of Syngnathiformes (the Syngnathoidei), making it the earliest known crown group-syngnathiform, and the oldest known definitive crown-group percomorph. [3] [5]
