A fossil southern grayling, genusPrototroctes,from the Pleistocene of north‐eastern New Zealand (Teleostei: Retropinnidae)

Abstract

This paper reports two fossil fishes, most probably of the genus Prototroctes, from a mid-Pleistocene lake deposit in north-eastern New Zealand. These are the first known fossils of this genus, which is found only in south-eastern Australia and New Zealand.

Biogeographical and phylogenetic implications of an early Miocene wren (Aves: Passeriformes: Acanthisittidae) from New Zealand

“…The first fossil fish skeletons of the genus Prototroctes were recorded from the middle Pleistocene of New Zealand from near Gisborne by McDowall et al (2006a), based on the diagnostic strengthened bounding rays in the caudal fin. McDowall et al related the mid−Pleistocene skeletons to the recently extinct P. oxyrhynchus Günther, 1870, but the more backward location of the dorsal fin halfway between pelvic and anal fins could in fact point to their being from a distinct species.…”

ProbableGobiomorphusfossils from the Miocene and Pleistocene of New Zealand (Teleostei: Eleotridae)

“…Many contemporary lake populations of amphidromous G. cotidianus have forsaken their marine migration and spend their entire lives in fresh water, and there are also lake populations of G. breviceps. However, as discussed in McDowall et al (2006) for grayling fossils from Ormond Valley, a connection of the Ormond palaeo-lake to the ocean seems possible.…”

“…An estimated caudal fin ray count of 15 in another fossil is the same as is present in extant Gobiomorphus (McDowall 1975). The parallel orientation of the caudal fin rays suggests an origin in a broad caudal peduncle as is true of Gobiomorphus (rather than fanning out from a narrow base, as in Prototroctes (McDowall et al 2006)). …”

“…A locality map and details of the deposits where these fossils were found are given in McDowall et al (2006). The fossils are preserved as impressions in very fine-grained diatomite and were collected from outcrops of a moderately fossiliferous sequence of diatomaceous siltstones and sandstones along a hillside scarp in farmland.…”

“…There have been several reported fossil freshwater fish from the family Galaxiidae (Oliver 1936;McDowall 1976;McDowall & Pole 1997), all from Miocene sites in the Otago region. Scales were described from a probable lower perciform fish of Early Miocene age, from deposits near Bannockburn in Central Otago (McDowall & Lee 2005); and two further small fishes from the Ormond Valley site have been identified as the first fossil representatives of the southern grayling genus, Prototroctes, (McDowall et al 2006).…”