This taxon may be invalid(Disused. See the following: Spinacanthidae in the Paleobiology Database).(August 2024) |
Spinacanthidae Temporal range: | |
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Reconstruction of Spinacanthus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
Suborder: | Ostracioidea |
Family: | † Spinacanthidae |
Genera | |
Spinacanthidae is an extinct prehistoric family of tetraodontid bony fish that lived from the Lutetian epoch of Eocene Monte Bolca. [1]
In life, either genus would have resembled a somewhat-flattened boxfish with five massive spines along the anterior-dorsal side, with the longest spine directly above the forehead, and the shortest spine directly in front of the dorsal fin. Protobalistum is distinguished from its close, sympatric relative, Spinacanthus , in that its scales are large, and form a sort of armor. In Spinacanthus, the individual scales are relatively small, and do not touch each other.
Protobalistum and Spinacanthus were a part of the ecosystem of the lagoon that became Monte Bolca. Because of their similarity to boxfish, and due to their close relation to modern-day triggerfish, spinacanthids may have preyed on shellfish and small fish.
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.
Eospinus daniltshenkoi is an extinct tetraodontid bony fish from the Eocene. Its fossils are from the Danata Formation lagerstatten of Ypresian Turkmenistan.
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.
Proaracana dubia is an extinct, prehistoric aracanid boxfish that lived during the Lutetian of middle Eocene Monte Bolca.
Spinacanthus cuneiformis is an extinct prehistoric tetraodontid bony fish that lived from the Lutetian epoch of Eocene Monte Bolca.
Calamostoma is an extinct relative of the ghost pipefish that lived during the early Eocene. It contains a single species, C. lesiniforme from the famous Monte Bolca site of Italy. It is one of the few known fossil ghost pipefishes. Calamostoma and the other Bolca solenostomid, Solenorhynchus, are both placed in the extinct subfamily Solenorhynchinae.
Anguilloides is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine eel that lived in the early Eocene. It contains a single species, A. branchiostegalis. Fossils are known from the famous Monte Bolca site of Italy.
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.
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.
Ductor is an extinct genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that lived from the early to middle Eocene. Fossils are found in Monte Bolca.
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.
Eolactoria sorbinii is an extinct prehistoric boxfish that lived during the Lutetian epoch of the middle Eocene, in Monte Bolca. It had two pairs of long spines, one over each eye, and one pair beneath the anal and caudal fins, arranged very similarly to those possessed by the modern genus Lactoria, but were, in comparison, much longer. E. sorbinii had a fifth spine between the two eye-spines, arranged and looking very much like a nose.
Callipteryx is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine trachiniform fish that lived during the early Eocene. It is the only known member of the extinct family Callipterygidae. It is thought to have been a relative of weeverfishes.
Eozanclus brevirostris is an extinct relative of the Moorish idol that lived during the late Ypresian epoch of the Eocene in what is now Monte Bolca, northern Italy. It differs from its living relative by having a much shorter snout.
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.
Eoplatax is an extinct genus of prehistoric spadefish that lived during the Lutetian of Monte Bolca. They are closely allied to the extant genus, Platax, more commonly known as "batfish."
Dalpiazella is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine eel from the Eocene of Europe. It contains a single species, D. brevicauda, from the late Ypresian-aged Monte Bolca lagerstatten of Italy. It is though to be closely related to the sympatric genus Paranguilla, with both genera together constituting the family Paranguillidae.
Sparnodus is an extinct genus of prehistoric perciform fish in the family Sparidae. Species of this genus were nektonic carnivores. These fishes lived in the Cenozoic Era, in the Oligocene and Paleocene.
Palimphyes is an extinct genus of prehistoric euzaphlegid bony fish related to the escolars and snake mackerels. The various species lived as deepwater mesopelagic predators in the Tethys and Paratethys oceans, with fossils of ten species found in Paleocene to Oligocene strata of the Swiss Alps, the Carpathian and Caucasus Mountains, Iran, India, and Turkmenistan.
Protobalistum imperiale is an extinct prehistoric tetraodontid bony fish that lived from the Lutetian epoch of Eocene Monte Bolca.