Fossil Record 19(1): 31-59, doi: 10.5194/fr-19-31-2016
New remarkable Late Jurassic teleosts from southern Germany: Ascalaboidae n. fam., its content, morphology, and phylogenetic relationships
expand article infoGloria Arratia
‡ University of Kansas, Lawrence, United States of America
Open Access
Abstract
Complete morphological descriptions, as preservation permits, are providedfor a new Late Jurassic fish taxon (Ebertichthys ettlingensis n. gen. et n. sp.) and a revision ofsome morphological features of Ascalabos voithii Graf zu Münster from the Solnhofen limestones,southern Germany. A new family, Ascalaboidae, is erected to include the twospecies. The new family is supported by numerous synapomorphies, e.g.,maxilla with external row of small conical teeth increasing in sizeposteriorly, absence of gular plate, low number of vertebrae (34 to 39),deep and narrow supracleithrum – deeper than opercle, and vertebral centrumformation of caudal region including paired chordacentra(pseudo-diplospondyly) that fuse in early ontogeny forming one chordacentrumthat is later surrounded by an autocentrum. A phylogenetic analysis based on173 characters and 42 taxa was performed. Following the phylogenetichypothesis, the sister-group relationship [Ascalabos + Ebertichthys] + more advanced teleostsstands above the node of Leptolepis coryphaenoides plus more advanced teleosts and below the node ofTharsis plus more advanced teleosts, and the new taxa are interpreted as extinct andprimitive forms within Teleostei. The new genus and species is endemic andrestricted to one Upper Jurassic locality – Ettling – whereas Ascalabos is knownfrom different localities in the Solnhofen limestones, with the exception of Ettling.