- Source: 2024 in paleoichthyology
This list of fossil fish research presented in 2024 is a list of new fossil taxa of jawless vertebrates, placoderms, cartilaginous fishes, bony fishes, and other fishes that were described during the year, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleoichthyology that occurred in 2024.
Jawless vertebrates
= Jawless vertebrate research
=A study on the evolutionary history of hagfishes, as indicated by the fossil record and molecular data, is published by Brownstein & Near (2024), who consider the hagfish crown group to be a lineage with Early Permian origin and a long history in continental slope settings.
Brookfield (2024) interprets Jamoytius kerwoodi as a probable detritivore or herbivore feeding on Dictyocaris (interpreted by the author as possible algal thalli).
Evidence interpreted as indicating that oral plates of pteraspid heterostracans had a mechanical function and that the studied heterostracans likely had a bottom-dwelling feeding mode, such as deposit feeding or scavenging, is presented by Grohganz et al. (2024).
Botella, Fariña & Huera-Huarte (2024) present evidence indicating that, in spite of lacking movable appendages other than tail fin, members of Pteraspidiformes were able to colonize the water column because the shape of their head shield made to possible for them attain high lift forces in a way similar to delta wings.
Description of the feeding apparatus of Rhinopteraspis dunensis, interpreted as composed of 13 plates that were capable of rotating around the transverse axis, is published by Dearden et al. (2024), who interpret R. dunensis as a suspension or deposit feeder.
Shan et al. (2024) describe new fossil material of "Dongfangaspis" qujingensis and Damaspis vartus from the Devonian Xishancun Formation (China), and reinterpret "D." qujingensis as a member of the genus Damaspis.
Placoderms
= Placoderm research
=Jobbins et al. (2024) describe new fossil material of Alienacanthus malkowskii, providing evidence of elongation of the lower jaw which was twice as long as the skull.
Engelman (2024) presents a new reconstruction of Dunkleosteus terrelli, and provides the anatomical basis for the reconstruction including a stout, deep trunk.
Cartilaginous fishes
= Cartilaginous fish research
=Schnetz et al. (2024) study the completeness of the Paleozoic fossil record of chondrichthyans, finding it to be significantly lower compared to other investigated vertebrate groups.
A study on the diversification of chondrichthyans throughout the Paleozoic is published by Schnetz et al. (2024), who report evidence indicative of two increases of diversification rates in the earliest Devonian and in the earliest Carboniferous,and of dispersal into deeper-water environments in the aftermath of the Hangenberg event.
A diverse assemblage of cartilaginous fish fossils is described from the Eocene Osinovaya Formation (Rostov Oblast, Russia) by Popov et al. (2024).
A study on the anatomy of the pharynx of Acanthodes confusus, providing evidence of the presence of a mixture of characters seen in cartilaginous and bony fish, is published by Dearden, Herrel & Pradel (2024).
The first fossil material of obruchevodid petalodonts found outside the Bear Gulch Limestone, including teeth of Fissodopsis robustus and Netsepoye hawesi providing information on their three-dimensional tooth morphology, is described from the Carboniferous (Mississippian) Bangor Limestone (Alabama, United States) by Egli et al. (2024).
Brownstein, Near & Dearden (2024) reconstruct the evolutionary history of holocephalans, and argue that, while key features of the holocephalan body plan evolved in the Paleozoic, the group entered deep ocean waters and diversified there only after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
New hybodont assemblage, representing one of the oldest records of Jurassic hybodonts from Gondwana reported to date, is described from the Bajocian Jaisalmer Formation (India) by Ghosh et al. (2024).
The oldest fossil material of members of the genus Strophodus from Gondwana reported to date is described from the ?Early to Middle Jurassic succession of Kachchh Basin (India) by Bhosale et al. (2024).
Cuny & Chanthasit (2024) describe egg capsules of Palaeoxyris sp. from the Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation (Thailand), interpreted as indicating that at least some hybodont sharks in Jurassic Thailand reproduced in fresh waters.
Fossil material of Aegyptobatus kuehnei, formerly known only from the Bahariya Formation (Egypt), is described from the Alcântara Formation (Brazil) by Neves et al. (2024).
A study on the evolutionary history of selachians (modern sharks) is published by Sternes, Schmitz & Higham (2024), who argue that modern sharks expanded to the pelagic realm no later than the Barremian, that habitat influenced the morphology of their pectoral fins, and that the increase of sea surface temperature in the middle of the Cretaceous period was an important factor in driving the evolution of shark ecology and morphology.
The first fossil material of a member of the wobbegong genus Cederstroemia from Asia reported to date is described from the Santonian Kashima Formation (Japan) by Kaneko & Solonin (2024).
Vullo et al. (2024) describe new fossil material of Ptychodus from the Upper Cretaceous strata in Mexico, providing evidence that Ptychodus was a high-speed mackerel shark that likely fed on nektonic hard-shelled prey such as ammonites and sea turtles.
Shimada et al. (2024) describe two isolated teeth of Megalolamna paradoxodon from the Miocene Calvert Formation (Maryland, United States), representing the northernmost record of Megalolamna reported to date, and a tooth from the Oligocene Chandler Bridge Formation (South Carolina, United States) which might represent the geologically oldest record of a member of the genus Megalolamna reported to date.
Pollerspöck & Shimada (2024) describe fossil material of members of the genus Megalolamna from the Miocene strata in Austria, France, Germany and Italy, and interpret the type species of this genus, M. paradoxodon, as a junior synonym of "Otodus" serotinus Probst (1879), resulting in a new combination Megalolamna serotinus.
Sternes et al. (2024) reevaluate the accuracy of the body form of Otodus megalodon inferred by Cooper et al. (2022), compare an incomplete vertebral column of a specimen of O. megalodon from the Miocene of Belgium with corresponding parts of the vertebral columns of extant white sharks, and argue that O. megalodon had an elongated body relative to the body of the white shark.
Paredes-Aliaga & Herraiz (2024) compare tooth microwear of the Miocene Otodus megalodon and the Pliocene great white shark from Spain, and interpret the two species as likely competing for similar prey, with the tooth wear of the great white shark possibly indicating the preference for a slightly more abrasive diet.
The first fossil tooth of a shark (great white shark) embedded in a seal bone reported to date is described from the Peace River Formation (Florida, United States) by Godfrey et al. (2024).
Greenfield (2024) coins the name Arthrobatidae as a replacement for the invalid name of the possible batomorph family Arthropteridae.
Capasso et al. (2024) describe rostrum of a large specimen of Onchopristis from the Maastrichtian Dakhla Formation (Egypt), providing evidence of persistence of Onchopristis in the marine environments of North Africa until the end of the Cretaceous.
Kocsis (2024) reviews the fossil record of Elasmobranchii from the Malay Archipelago and describes new fossils of elasmobranchs from the Miocene strata in Brunei and from the Sibuti Formation (Sarawak, Malaysia), including the first fossils of Chiloscyllium sp., cf. Hemitriakis sp., Paragaleus sp., the Borneo shark, the blacktip shark, Lamiopsis sp., Scoliodon sp. and Rhinobatos sp. from the Malay Archipelago reported to date.
Evidence from the study of dental microwear in extant chondrichthyans, interpreted as indicating that dental microwear analysis can provide reliable information on the diet of fossil taxa, is presented by Paredes-Aliaga, Botella & Romero (2024).
Cooper & Pimiento (2024) assess the functional diversity of sharks from 66 million years to the present using teeth, finding that shark functional diversity was high between the Palaeocene and its Miocene peak, and subsequently declined over the last 10 million years to its lowest value in the present. They interpret this decline as being due to the extinctions of functionally unique and specialised species such as †Otodus megalodon.
Ray-finned fishes
= Otolith taxa
== Ray-finned fish research
=New, rank-free classification of extant and extinct ray-finned fishes is presented by Near & Thacker (2024).
Dankina, Šečkus & Plax (2024) describe new fossil material of ray-finned fishes from the Devonian (Eifelian and Givetian) strata in Belarus and Lithuania, including scales of members of the genera Cheirolepis and Orvikuina, and improving biostratigraphic correlations within the studied region.
New information on the evolution of the brain in the early ray-finned fishes, gained from the study of remains of the latest Carboniferous-earliest Permian ray-finned fishes from Brazil with extensive soft-tissue preservation of brains, cranial nerves, eyes and possible cardiovascular tissues, is presented by Figueroa et al. (2024).
Redescription and study on the affinities of Westollia crassa is published by Štamberg (2024), who confirms the placement of this species as a distinct member of the family Aeduellidae.
A study on teeth of members of Eurynotoidiformes is published by Bakaev et al. (2024), who interpret eurynotoidiforms as likely the oldest known actinopterygians specialized for herbivory.
Revision of the fossil material of ray-finned fishes from the Permian-Triassic transition from the Kuznetsk Basin (Siberia, Russia) is published by Bakaev (2024).
Kumar et al. (2024) describe fossil material of a member of the genus Cylindracanthus from the Eocene Naredi Formation (India), extending known geographical distribution of members of the genus.
Cooper (2024) describes fossil material of an acipenseriform from the Kimmeridge Clay (United Kingdom), representing the first record of a Late Jurassic member of this group found outside Asia.
Cavin et al. (2024) describe fossil material of a large-bodied ray-finned fish from a Lower Triassic outcrop in northern Dobrogea (Romania), with anatomy interpreted as indicative of affinities with Polzbergiidae, and interpret the studied fossils as belonging to the earliest known large, specialized, durophagous neopterygian.
Review of the fossil record of non-marine members of Pycnodontiformes is published by Cawley & Kriwet (2024), who report that the incursions of pycnodontiforms into brackish and freshwater habitats increased during the Cretaceous period, when the rising sea levels might have made it easier for marine fishes to colonize continental environments.
Revision of evidence of growth and aging in the fossil material of pycnodonts is published by Capasso (2024), who find no evidence for a single overall pattern of somatic growth, but reports evidence of specific changes which seem to be common in the studied pycnodonts.
Capasso, Ebert & Witzmann (2024) review dental pathologies in pycnodonts, report uneven distribution of tooth anomalies in the pycnodont fossil record and interpret such distribution as suggesting that pycnodont teeth weren't initially ordered into distinct dental rows, which only appeared in the most derived forms.
Review of pathologies in the skeletons and dermal scales of pycnodont specimens is published by Capasso, Ebert & Witzmann (2024).
Capasso & Witzmann (2024) describe non-dental odontodes in two specimens of Haquelpycnodus picteti from the Cenomanian of Lebanon, representing the first record of dermal odontodes in pycnodonts reported to date, and interpret the anatomical position and structure of the studied structures as indicating that they functionally participated in the chewing process.
New information on the anatomy of Tibetodus gyrodoides is provided by Fang & Wu (2024).
Vullo & Frey (2024) describe specimens of Atractosteus messelensis and Cyclurus kehreri found with bat specimens in close contact with their jaws, and interpret this finding as evidence of opportunistic feeding on drowning or dead bats by Eocene amiids and gars from the Messel pit (Germany).
Gouiric-Cavalli et al. (2024) describe new fossil material of Ameghinichthys antarcticus from the Tithonian strata of the Longing Member of the Ameghino/Nordenskjöld Formation (Antarctica), interpreted as supporting placement of Ameghinichthys in Dapediiformes.
Nikolov et al. (2024) describe fossil material of gars from the Santonian–Campanian strata from the Vrabchov Dol locality (Bulgaria), expanding known geographical range of gars within the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago .
Weis et al. (2024) study gut contents of pachycormid specimens from the Toarcian strata in Luxembourg, and report that the studied pachycormids fed on octobrachian cephalopods.
Cooper (2024) describes fossil material of Pachycormus macropterus from the Toarcian strata in Normandy (France) representing the first direct evidence of cannibalism in a pachycormiform fish reported to date.
Cooper, Maxwell & Martill (2024) describe fossil material of Asthenocormus cf. titanius from the Kimmeridge Clay, representing the first unambiguous record of Asthenocormus from the United Kingdom reported to date.
Kanarkina, Zverkov & Polyakova (2024) identify fossil material of Protosphyraena ferox and P. tenuirostris from the Cenomanian Polpino Formation (Kursk Oblast, Russia), reinterpret Australopachycormus as a junior synonym of Protosphyraena, describe the first specimens of Protosphyraena from the Albian of the North Caucasus, and interpret the studied fossils as evidence of wide distribution of Protosphyraena already in the late Early Cretaceous.
Redescription of Aphnelepis australis, based on data from a new specimen from the Talbragar fossil site (Australia), is published by Bean (2024), who assigns A. australis to the teleost family Archaeomaenidae.
Bennett (2024) describes a series of caudal vertebrae of an ichthyodectiform from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation (Kansas, United States), preserved with pathologies unknown in extant and fossil fishes but sharing similarities with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis and spondylosis deformans of mammals, and interprets the studied pathologies as caused by combined bacterial and fungal infections, affecting the swimming abilities of the studied fish and likely ultimately resulting in its death.
Cantalice et al. (2024) describe fossil material of a previously unknown albuliform from the Campanian strata from the Múzquiz Lagerstätte (Austin Group; Coahuila, Mexico), estimated to be approximately 3,9 metres long and representing the largest albuliform reported to date.
A study on the phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of extant and fossil osteoglossids is published by Capobianco & Friedman (2024), who interpret their findings as indicating that the last common ancestor of extant osteoglossids was marine, and that the group colonized freshwater settings at least four times.
A study on the phylogenetic relationships of herring-like fossil fishes belonging to the group Clupei is published by Kevrekidis et al. (2024).
Liu et al. (2024) revise Osteochilus sanshuiensis, Osteochilus longipinnatus and Osteochilus laticorpus from the Paleogene Buxin Formation (China), synonymizing them into a single species named Jianghanichthys sanshuiensis.
Claeson et al. (2024) present a new reconstruction of Oncorhynchus rastrosus, interpreting its enlarged teeth as projecting laterally like tusks.
Torres-Parada et al. (2024) report the discovery of fossil material of members of the genus Enchodus from the Upper Cretaceous strata of the La Luna Formation (Colombia).
Redescription of Whitephippus tamensis is published by Davesne & Andrews et al. (2024), who interpret this taxon as an early member of Lampriformes, likely related to extant opahs and oarfishes and providing the earliest known evidence of adaptation of lampriforms to the pelagic environment.
Laine et al. (2024) sequence three-spined stickleback genomes from Late Pleistocene sediments from the Jossavannet lake (Finnmark, Norway), who identify more marine- than freshwater-associated ancestry in the studied genomes, but also find evidence that freshwater-associated alleles were already established at known loci of large effect during the brackish phase of the formation of the lake.
Miyata et al. (2024) describe an assemblage of marine fish otoliths from the Lower Cretaceous Kimigahama Formation (Japan), including the oldest known fossil material of members of the family Ichthyotringidae, as well as of otoliths of pterothrissine bonefishes, elopiforms and herring smelts indicative of cosmopolitan distribution of these groups during the Early Cretaceous.
Evidence from the skeletal and otolith fossil record, interpreted as indicative of presence of rich and diverse teleost assemblages in known Maastrichtian marine settings which were significantly affected by the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, is presented by Schwarzhans, Carnevale & Stringer (2024), who also find that perciforms and related groups, ophidiiforms and gadiforms underwent an explosive radiation and diversification in the early Paleogene.
A study on the survivorship patterns of freshwater ray-finned fishes during the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition, based on data from the fossil record from the Denver Basin, is published by Wilson et al. (2024), who report evidence of previously unrecognized diversification of freshwater clades after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, as well as evidence of localized drops in diversity.
Lobe-finned fishes
= Lobe-finned fish research
=Toriño et al. (2024) reconstruct the skull of a specimen of Mawsonia from the Upper Jurassic strata in Uruguay.
Cupello et al. (2024) describe pulmonary vessels in a calcified lung of a specimen of Macropoma mantelli from the Upper Cretaceous Chalk Formation (United Kingdom) and in extant coelacanth, confirming the air-breathing function of the tubular structure in the fossil coelacanth specimens called the calcified organ, and interpret coelacanths as having pulmonary arterie homologous to the same paired branches of the air-filled organs (including gas bladders) of other bony fishes.
Redescription of the tooth plates of Atlantoceratodus iheringi, based on data from new and previously described fossil material, is published by Panzeri (2024).
New information on the anatomy of Chaoceratodus portezuelensis, based on the study of the fossil material from the Portezuelo and Cerro Lisandro formations (Argentina), is provided by Panzeri & Guzmán (2024).
Stewart et al. (2024) describe the anatomy of the axial skeleton of Tiktaalik roseae, providing evidence of the appearance of the evolution of increased mobility at the head-trunk boundary prior to the origin of limbs, as well as evidence of the presence of derived features of the anatomy of the ribs that were previously known only from limbed taxa, and interpret the anatomy of T. roseae as indicative of a locomotor capacity intermediate between those of other elpistostegalians and those of limbed vertebrates.
General research
A diverse assemblage of fish remains, including the youngest fossil material of Bransonella lingulata reported to date, is described from the Carboniferous (Gzhelian) Finis Shale (Texas, United States) by Ivanov & Seuss (2024).
Rinehart & Lucas (2024) describe a trace of a fish walking on a muddy substrate from the Permian Robledo Mountains Formation (New Mexico, United States), interpret it as unlikely to be produced by a lobe-finned fish, and name a new ichnotaxon Ambulopisces voigti.
A study on the composition of the microfossil assemblage from the Carnian San Cassiano Formation (Italy), providing evidence of the presence of durophagous sharks, stem-neopterygians, holosteans and (less common) putative basal teleosts, is published by Pindakiewicz et al. (2024).
Blake et al. (2024) describe assemblages of vertebrate remains (dominated by sharks, bony fishes and crocodyliforms) from two localities from the London–Brabant Massif (Lower Greensand; United Kingdom), including the youngest occurrences of Vectiselachos gosslingi and V. ornatus reported to date, as well as including remains of at least five cartilaginous fish taxa interpreted as likely reworked from the underlying Jurassic or Wealden strata.
Boles et al. (2024) describe a new assemblage of vertebrate microfossils from the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition from the Hornerstown Formation (New Jersey, United States), including the first Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) records of Palaeogaleus vincenti and Paralbula marylandica and the first Paleocene record of Saurocephalus lanciformis, extending known geographic range of Saurocephalus, Phyllodus paulkatoi and Notidanodon brotzeni, and providing evidence of slow recovery of elasmobranchs and ray-finned fish after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
Goedert et al. (2024) describe a new assemblage of fish fossils from the Eocene (Ypresian) Crescent Formation (Washington, United States), including the first early Eocene shark assemblage reported from western North America.
Ebersole et al. (2024) describe a new assemblage of fish fossils from the Oligocene Rupelian Red Bluff Clay (Alabama, United States), including the first record of a member of the genus Eostegostoma from the Oligocene and from the Gulf Coastal Plain of North America, as well as fossils of Macrorhizodus praecursor, Xiphiorhynchus kimblalocki, Cylindracanthus rectus and C. ornatus providing evidence of persistence of these species into at least the early Oligocene.
References
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Scapanorhynchus
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