Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-cnmwb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T14:51:03.092Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Batfishes from the Eocene of Monte Bolca

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2010

GIORGIO CARNEVALE  and
THEODORE W. PIETSCH
GIORGIO CARNEVALE*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Torino, via Valperga Caluso, 35, I-10125 Torino, Italy
THEODORE W. PIETSCH
Affiliation:
School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, College of the Environment, University of Washington, Campus Box 355020, Seattle, Washington 98195–5020, USA
*
†Author for correspondence: giorgiocarnevale74@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Batfishes of the family Ogcocephalidae are derived lophiiform fishes characterized by having a dorsoventrally depressed body and a distinctive series of morphological features. A new genus and species of batfish, Tarkus squirei gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Eocene (Ypresian) limestone of the celebrated locality of Monte Bolca, Italy. It is based on five well-preserved specimens that display a unique combination of characters (body moderately depressed; disk rounded in outline; caudal peduncle thick and stout; frontals with median groove for the illicium; teeth present on jaws and palate; illicial bone pitted and trilobate; body covered with thick slightly overlapping tubercles) that support its recognition as a new genus of the family Ogcocephalidae. Tarkus gen. nov. is also characterized by having distally branched pectoral-fin rays, a condition unique within the family, and by a peculiar structure of the axial skeleton, which possibly represents the plesiomorphic state for the ogcocephalids. Tarkus gen. nov. shows a certain degree of phenetic affinity with the extant shallow-water batfish genera Halieutaea and (more particularly) Halieutichthys. The specimens of this taxon are the first articulated skeletal remains of the Ogcocephalidae ever recorded as fossils, also representing the oldest members of the family known to date. The general structure of the skeleton of Tarkus gen. nov. provides unambiguous evidence that the existence of the modern ogcocephalid body plan was already established in the early Eocene, and probably originated well before that period. Palaeoenvironmental considerations suggest that Tarkus gen. nov. was a tropical batfish that inhabited the inner-shelf palaeobiotopes of the central-western Tethys.

Keywords

TeleosteiLophiiformesOgcocephalidaeTarkus squirei gen. et sp. nov.EoceneMonte BolcaItaly
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 148 , Issue 3 , May 2011 , pp. 461 - 472
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agassiz, L. 1835. Kritische Revision der in der Ittiolitologia Veronese abgebildeten fossilen Fische. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefakenkund, Jahrgang 1835, 290–316.Google Scholar
Alfaro, M. E., Santini, F., Brock, C., Alamillo, H., Dornburg, A., Rabovsky, D. L., Carnevale, G. & Harmon, L. J. 2009. Nine exceptional radiations plus high turnover explain species diversity in jawed vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106, 13410–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Amaoka, K. & Toyoshima, M. 1981. A new ogcocephalid fish, Dibranchus japonicus, from Japan. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 28, 115–21.Google Scholar
Bannikov, A. F. 2004. The first discovery of an anglerfish (Teleostei, Lophiidae) in the Eocene of the Northern Caucasus. Paleontological Journal 38, 420–5.Google Scholar
Barbieri, G. & Medizza, F. 1969. Contributo alla conoscenza geologica della regione di Bolca (Monti Lessini). Memorie dell'Istituto di Geologia e Mineralogia dell'Università di Padova 27, 1–36.Google Scholar
Blot, J. 1980. La faune ichthyologique des gisements du Monte Bolca (Province de Vérone, Italie). Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle C 4, 339–96.Google Scholar
Bradbury, M. G. 1967. The genera of batfishes (family Ogcocephalidae). Copeia 1967, 399–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradbury, M. G. 1980. A revision of the fish genus Ogcocephalus with description of new species from the Western Atlantic Ocean (Ogcocephalidae; Lophiiformes). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 42, 229–85.Google Scholar
Bradbury, M. G. 1988. Rare fishes of the deep-sea genus Halieutopsis: a review with descriptions of four new species (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae). Fieldiana, Zoology 44, 1–22.Google Scholar
Bradbury, M. G. 1998. A new species of Malthopsis (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) from the Western Atlantic Ocean. Bulletin of Marine Science 63, 207–11.Google Scholar
Bradbury, M. G. 1999. A review of the fish genus Dibranchus with descriptions of new species and a new genus, Solocisquama (Lophiiformes, Ogcocephalidae). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 51, 259–310.Google Scholar
Bradbury, M. G. 2003. Family Ogcocephalidae Jordan 1895 – batfishes. California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklist of Fishes 17, 1–17.Google Scholar
Bradbury, M. G., McCosker, J. E. & Long, D. J. 1999. Batfishes of the Galápagos Islands with descriptions of two new species of Dibranchus (Teleostei: Ogcocephalidae). Revue Française d'Aquariologie 25, 79–88.Google Scholar
Carnevale, G. & Pietsch, T. W. 2006. Filling the gap: a fossil frogfish, genus Antennarius (Teleostei, Lophiiformes, Antennariidae), from the Miocene of Algeria. Journal of Zoology 270, 448–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnevale, G. & Pietsch, T. W. 2009 a. The deep-sea anglerfish genus Acentrophryne (Teleostei, Ceratioidei, Linophrynidae) in the Miocene of California. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29, 372–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnevale, G. & Pietsch, T. W. 2009 b. An Eocene frogfish from Monte Bolca, Italy: the earliest known skeletal record for the family. Palaeontology 52, 745–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnevale, G. & Pietsch, T. W. In press. Eocene handfishes from Monte Bolca, with description of a new genus and species, and a phylogeny of the family Brachionichthyidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.Google Scholar
Carnevale, G., Pietsch, T. W., Takeuchi, G. T & Huddleston, R. W. 2008. Fossil ceratioid anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes) from the Miocene of the Los Angeles Basin, California. Journal of Paleontology 82, 996–1008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caruso, J. H. 1985. The systematics and distribution of the lophiid anglerfishes: III. Intrageneric relationships. Copeia 1985, 870–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caruso, J. H. & Bullis, H. R. Jr. 1976. A review of the lophiid angler fish genus Sladenia with a description of a new species from the Caribbean Sea. Bulletin of Marine Science 26, 59–64.Google Scholar
Crane, J. M. Jr. 1968. Bioluminescence in the batfish Dibranchus atlanticus. Copeia 1968, 410–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Beaufort, L. F. & Briggs, J. C. 1962. The fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. XI. Scleroparei, Hypostomides, Pediculati, Plectognathi, Opisthomi, Discocephali, Xenopterygii. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 481 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Endo, H. & Shinohara, G. 1999. A new batfish, Coelophrys bradburyae (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) from Japan, with comments on the evolutionary relationships of the genus. Ichthyological Research 46, 359–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabiani, R. 1914. La serie stratigrafica del Monte Bolca e dei suoi dintorni. Memorie dell'Istituto di Geologia della Regia Università di Padova 2, 223–35.Google Scholar
Fabiani, R. 1915. Il Paleogene del Veneto. Memorie dell'Istituto di Geologia della Regia Università di Padova 3, 1–336.Google Scholar
Frickhinger, K. A. 1991. Fossilien Atlas Fische. Melle: Mergus, 1088 pp.Google Scholar
Fujita, K. 1990. The Caudal Skeleton of Teleostean Fishes. Tokyo: Tokai University Press, 897 pp.Google Scholar
Garman, S. 1899. Report on an exploration off the west coasts of Mexico, Central and South America, and off the Galapagos Islands, in charge of Alexander Agassiz by the U.S. Fish Commission steamer ‘Albatross,’ during 1891, Lieut. Commander Z. L. Tanner, U. S. N., commanding. XXVI. The fishes. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 24, 1–431.Google Scholar
Gibran, F. Z. & Castro, R. M. C. 1999. Activity feeding behaviour and diet of Ogcocephalus vespertilio in southern west Atlantic. Journal of Fish Biology 55, 588–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, W. K. 1933. Fish skulls: a study of the evolution of natural mechanisms. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 23, 75–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, W. K. & Conrad, G. M. 1936. The evolution of pediculate fishes. American Naturalist 70, 193–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, H.-C., Endo, H. & Sakamaki, K. 2008. A new species of Halicmetus (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) from the Western Pacific, with comments on congeners. Zoological Studies 47, 767–73.Google Scholar
Ho, H.-C., Prokofiev, A. M. & Shao, K.-T. 2009. A new species of the batfish genus Malthopsis (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) from the northwestern Indian Ocean. Zoological Studies 48, 394–401.Google Scholar
Ho, H.-C. & Shao, K.-T. 2007. A new species of Halieutopsis (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) from Western North and Eastern Central Pacific Ocean. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 14, 87–92.Google Scholar
Ho, H.-C. & Shao, K.-T. 2008. The batfishes (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) of Taiwan, with descriptions of eight new records. Journal of the Fisheries Society of Taiwan 35, 289–313.Google Scholar
Jordan, D. S. 1895. The fishes of Sinaloa. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 5, 377–514.Google Scholar
Landini, W. & Sorbini, L. 1996. Ecological and trophic relationships of Eocene Monte Bolca (Pesciara) fish fauna. In Autecology of Selected Fossil Organisms: Achievement and Problems (ed. Cherchi, A.), pp. 105–12. Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana Special Volume 3.Google Scholar
Long, J. A. 1996. The Rise of Fishes. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 224 pp.Google Scholar
Massari, F. & Sorbini, L. 1975. Aspects sedimentologiques des couches à poissons de l'Eocene de Bolca (Vérone–Nord Italie). In IXe Congrès International de Sedimentologie, Nice, pp. 55–61.Google Scholar
Miya, M., Pietsch, T. W., Orr, J. W., Arnold, R. J., Satoh, T. P., Shedlock, A. M., Ho, H.-C., Shimazaki, M., Yabe, M. & Nishida, M. 2010. Evolutionary history of anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes): a mitogenomic perspective. BMC Evolutionary Biology 10, 58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nagareda, B. H. & Shenker, J. M. 2008. Dietary analysis of batfishes (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) in the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf of Mexico Science 2008, 28–35.Google Scholar
Nagareda, B. H. & Shenker, J. M. 2009. Evidence for chemical luring in the polka-dot batfish Ogcocephalus cubifrons (Teleostei: Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae). Florida Scientist 72, 11–17.Google Scholar
Ochiai, A. & Mitani, F. 1956. A revision of the pediculate fishes of the genus Malthopsis found in the waters of Japan (family Ogcocephalidae). Pacific Science 10, 271–285.Google Scholar
Papazzoni, C. A. & Trevisani, E. 2006. Facies analysis, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and biostrartigraphy of the ‘Pesciara di Bolca’ (Verona, northern Italy): an early Eocene Fossil-Lagerstätte. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 242, 21–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, C. & Rosen, D. E. 1977. Review of the ichthyodectiform and other Mesozoic teleost fishes and the theory and practice of classifying fossils. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 158, 81–172.Google Scholar
Patterson, C. & Rosen, D. E. 1989. The Paracanthopterygii revisited: order and disorder. In Papers on the Systematics of Gadiform Fishes (ed Cohen, D. M.), pp. 3–36. Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of the Los Angeles County.Google Scholar
Pietsch, T. W. 1974. Osteology and relationships of ceratioid anglerfishes of the family Oneirodidae, with a review of the genus Oneirodes Lütken. Natural History Museum of the Los Angeles County Science Bulletin 18, 1–113.Google Scholar
Pietsch, T. W. 1981. The osteology and relationships of the anglerfish genus Tetrabrachium with comments on lophiiform classification. Fishery Bulletin 79, 387–419.Google Scholar
Pietsch, T. W. 1984. Lophiiformes: development and relationships. In Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes (eds Moser, H. G., Richards, W. J., Cohen, D. M., Fahay, M. P., Kendall, A. W. Jr & Richardson, S. L.), pp. 320–25. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Special Publication no. 1.Google Scholar
Pietsch, T. W. 2009. Oceanic Anglerfishes: Extraordinary Diversity in the Deep-Sea. Berkley: University of California Press, 577 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pietsch, T. W. & Grobecker, D. B. 1987. Frogfishes of the World. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 420 pp.Google Scholar
Pietsch, T. W., Johnson, J. W. & Arnold, R. J. 2009. A new genus and species of the shallow-water anglerfish family Tetrabrachiidae (Teleostei: Lophiiformes: Antennarioidei) from Australia and Indonesia. Copeia 2009, 483–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pietsch, T. W. & Orr, J. W. 2007. Phylogenetic relationships of deep-sea anglerfishes of the suborder Ceratioidei (Teleostei: Lophiiformes) based on morphology. Copeia 2007, 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radcliffe, L. 1912. New pediculate fishes from the Philippine Islands and contiguous waters. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 42, 199–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randall, J. E. 1967. Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Studies in Tropical Oceanography 5, 665–847.Google Scholar
Rasquin, P. 1958. Ovarian morphology and early embryology of the pediculate fishes Antennarius and Histrio. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 114, 331–371.Google Scholar
Regan, C. T. 1912. The classification of the teleostean fishes of the order Pediculati. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9, 277–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, D. E. & Patterson, C. 1969. The structure and relationships of the paracanthopterygian fishes. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 141, 357–474.Google Scholar
Santini, F., Harmon, L. J., Carnevale, G. & Alfaro, M. E. 2009. Did genome duplication drive the origin of teleosts? A comparative study of diversification in ray-finned fishes. BMC Evolutionary Biology 9, 194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwarzhans, W. 1985. Tertiäre Otolithen aus South Australia und Victoria (Australien) Paleo Ichthyologica 3, 1–60.Google Scholar
Schwarzhans, W. 1994. Die Fisch-Otolithen aus dem Oberoligozän der Niederrheinischen Bucht. Systematik, Palökologie, Paläobiogeographie, Biostratigraphie und Otolithen-Zonierung. Geologisches Jahrbuch, Reihe A 140, 1–248.Google Scholar
Schwarzhans, W. 2007. The otoliths from the middle Eocene of Osteroden near Bramsche, north-western Germany. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 244/3, 963–992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwarzhans, W. 2010. The Otoliths from the Miocene of the North Sea Basin. Leiden: Backhuys Publishers, 352 pp.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A., Reif, W.-E. & Westphal, F. 1985. Sedimentological, ecological and temporal patterns of fossil Lagerstätten. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 311, 5–24.Google Scholar
Serra-Kiel, J., Hottinger, L., Caus, E., Brobne, K., Ferràndez, C., Jauhri, A. K., Less, G., Pavlovec, R., Pignatti, J., Samsó, J. M., Schaub, H., SIREL, E., Strougo, A., Tambareau, Y., Tosquella, J. & Zakrevskaya, E. 1998. Larger foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Tethyan Paleocene and Eocene. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 169, 281–99.Google Scholar
Shimazaki, M., Endo, H. & Yabe, M. 2004. Redescription of a rare deep-sea batfish, Halieutopsis bathyoreos (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae). Ichthyological Research 51, 120–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorbini, L. 1968. Contributo alla sedimentologia della ‘Pesciara’ di Bolca. Memorie del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona 15, 213–21.Google Scholar
Sorbini, L. 1972. I Fossili di Bolca. Verona: Edizioni Corev, 133 pp.Google Scholar
Stinton, F. C. 1978. Fish otoliths from the English Eocene. Part 3. Palaeontographical Society Monographs 132, 127–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trevisani, E., Papazzoni, C. A., Ragazzi, E. & Roghi, G. 2005. Early Eocene amber from the ‘Pesciara di Bolca’ (Lessini Mountains, Northern Italy). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 223, 260–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar