Prototroctes

Prototroctes Temporal range: Early Miocene to present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Prototroctes oxyrhynchus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Osmeriformes
Family:	Retropinnidae
Genus:	Prototroctes Günther, 1864

Prototroctes is a genus of New Zealand smelts containing one species native to Australia and another, now extinct, species that was native to New Zealand.

The two species in this genus appear to have diverged from one another during the Miocene, about 14 million years ago. ^[1]

Species

There are currently two recognized species in this genus: ^[2]

• Prototroctes maraena Günther, 1864 (Australian grayling)
• † Prototroctes oxyrhynchus Günther, 1870 (New Zealand grayling)

In addition, two prehistoric species known only from fossil otoliths ( Prototroctes modestus Schwarzhans, 2011 and Prototroctes vertex Schwarzhans, 2011) have been identified from the Early Miocene-aged St. Bathans fauna of New Zealand. ^[1] Two complete fossil skeletons of an indeterminate Protroctes have been identified from the Pleistocene of New Zealand, and likely represent P. oxyrhynchus. ^{[1] [3]}

References

1. Scarsbrook, Lachie; Mitchell, Kieren J; Mcgee, Matthew D; Closs, Gerard P; Rawlence, Nicolas J (2023-02-02). "Ancient DNA from the extinct New Zealand grayling (Prototroctes oxyrhynchus) reveals evidence for Miocene marine dispersal". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 197 (2): 532–544. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac077. ISSN   0024-4082.
2. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Prototroctes". FishBase . February 2012 version.
3. McDowall, R. M.; Kennedy, E. M.; Alloway, B. V. (2006-03-01). "A fossil southern grayling, genus Prototroctes, from the Pleistocene of north‐eastern New Zealand (Teleostei: Retropinnidae)" . Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 36 (1): 27–36. doi:10.1080/03014223.2006.9517797. ISSN   0303-6758.