Pholidophorus

Pholidophorus is an extinct genus of stem-teleost fish from the Triassic period of Africa, Europe, and South America.

Pholidophorus
Temporal range:
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Infraclass: Teleostei
Order: †Pholidophoriformes
Family: †Pholidophoridae
Genus: †Pholidophorus
Agassiz, 1832
Species
  • P. latiusculus Agassiz, 1832 (type)
  • P. granulatus Egerton, 1854

Taxonomy

The genus Pholidophorus for a long time served as a wastebasket taxon containing various unrelated species of basal stem-teleosts. Over the years, several of these have been moved to separate genera. The Late Jurassic nominal species "Pholidophorus" purbeckensis was renamed Ichthyokentema by Arthur Woodward in 1941.[1] Likewise, the Early Jurassic form "Pholidophorus" bechei was renamed Dorsetichthys and moved to its own family, Dorsetichthyidae, by Arratia (2013).[2] The nominal species "Pholidophorus" friedeni Delsate, 1999 and "Pholidophorus" gervasuttii Zambelli, 1980 were renamed Luxembourgichthys and Lombardichthys by Taverne and Steurbaut (2017) and Arratia (2017) respectively.[3][4]

Description

Pholidophorus was a herring-like fish about 40 centimetres (16 in) long, although it was not closely related to modern herring. Like them, however, it had a single dorsal fin, a symmetrical tail, and an anal fin placed towards the rear of the body. It had large eyes and was probably a fast-swimming predator, hunting planktonic crustaceans and smaller fish.[5]

A very early teleost, Pholidophorus had many primitive characteristics such as ganoid scales and a spine that was partially composed of cartilage, rather than bone.[5]

References
  1. Griffith, J.; Patterson, C. (1963). "The structure and relationships of the Jurassic fish Ichthyokentema purbeckensis". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology. 8 (1): 1–43. doi:10.5962/p.313875.
  2. Arratia, G. (2013). "Morphology, taxonomy, and phylogeny of Triassic pholidophorid fishes (Actinopterygii, Teleostei)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (sup1): 1–138. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.835642. S2CID 86605978.
  3. Taverne, L.; Steurbaut, E. (2017). "Osteology and relationships of Luxembourgichthys ("Pholidophorus") friedeni gen. nov. (Teleostei, "Pholidophoriformes") from the Lower Jurassic of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg". Geologica Belgica. 20 (1–2): 53–67. doi:10.20341/gb.2017.003.
  4. Arratia, G. (2017). "New Triassic teleosts (Actinopterygii, Teleosteomorpha) from northern Italy and their phylogenetic relationships among the most basal teleosts". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 37 (2): e1312690. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1312690. S2CID 89773927.
  5. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. pp. 38–39. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
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