A Giant Early Miocene Sunfish from the North Alpine Foreland Basin (Austria) and Its Implication for Molid Phylogeny

A Giant Early Miocene Sunfish from the North Alpine Foreland Basin (Austria) and Its Implication for Molid Phylogeny

Three extraordinarily well-preserved skeletons and skeleton parts of an Early Miocene sunfish are described. These unique fossils allow a precise osteological description of one of the largest if not the largest sunfish (320 cm) known so far and represent one of the largest teleost fossils of the Ce...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. - Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. - 29(2009), 2, Seite 359-371
1. Verfasser: Gregorova, Ruzena (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Schultz, Ortwin, Harzhauser, Mathias, Kroh, Andreas, Ćorić, Stjepan
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2009
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
Schlagworte:Biological sciences Business Physical sciences
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Three extraordinarily well-preserved skeletons and skeleton parts of an Early Miocene sunfish are described. These unique fossils allow a precise osteological description of one of the largest if not the largest sunfish (320 cm) known so far and represent one of the largest teleost fossils of the Cenozoic Era. This new sunfish genus is the sister-taxon of the extant Mola+Masturus clade and, together with these two genera, forms the sister-clade of Ranzania. The radiation of modern-type sunfishes therefore already had occurred during Oligocene times. The finding from the earliest Miocene narrows the gap between the oldest known Eocene primitive sunfish and the Middle and Upper Miocene records, which are all referable to extant genera. Austromola is introduced as a new genus of the family Molidae; Austromola angerhoferi is described as a new species.
ISSN:19372809