A new genus of coccolepidid actinopterygian from the Cretaceous Iguanodon-bearing locality of Bernissart, Belgium

The Fossil Record and Diversity of Pycnodontiform Fishes in Non-Marine Environments

“…While the locality of Bernissart in Belgium is most famous for the Iguanodon remains found at the bottom of a pit, a staggering number of actinopterygian specimens were unearthed from this locality, amounting to nearly 3000 specimens containing 17 species belonging to 12 genera [64,65]. The fossil remains were found in lacustrine clays, which are defined as the Sainte-Barbe Clays Formation [66,67].…”

First occurrence of a †coccolepidid fish (?Chondrostei: †Coccolepididae) from the Upper Lias (Toarcian, Early Jurassic) of southern Germany

“…Recent revision of the family Coccolepididae has identified key anatomical synapomorphies with the monophyletic Acipenseriformes (López-Arbarello et al, 2013), thus proposing the placement of the family within the monophyletic Chondrostei, a clade comprising the living sturgeons (Acipenseridae) and paddlefishes (Polyodontidae), as well as extinct relatives, including †Peipiaostidae, †Chondrosteidae, and †Birgeriidae (Grande and Bemis, 1996;Hilton et al, 2004;Hilton and Forey, 2009). This has led many authors to propose the combination of †Coccolepididae within Chondrostei although the close relationship of Birgeriidae to Chondrostei and the assignment of other fossil actinopterygians have been drawn into question (López-Arbarello et al, 2013;Argyriou et al, 2018;Olive et al 2019;Ebert et al, 2021;López-Arbarello and Ebert, 2021; but see Schultze andArratia, 2015, Schultze et al, 2021, for alternative hypotheses whereby Coccolepididae is allied with the paraphyletic Palaeoniscimorpha)however, this hypothesis for Coccolepididae being included with Chondrostei has never been subjected to a phylogenetic analysis (Olive et al, 2019).…”

“…†Coccolepididae was erected by Berg (1940) who diagnosed the family simply as including "all non-neopterygian fishes with only a single series of ossified radials supporting the dorsal fin". Subsequent works regard Berg's diagnosis as inadequate to differentially diagnose the family (Gardiner, 1960;Hilton et al, 2004;López-Arbarello et al, 2013;Olive et al, 2019) -in part due to the poor post-cranial ossification in these fishes; and because the number of radial supports in the dorsal fin among basal actinopterygians has been poorly surveyed (Hilton et al, 2004). Despite difficulties diagnosing members of the family, taxa currently included in †Coccolepididae range from the Sinemurian stage of the Early Jurassic to the Barremian-Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous (Forey et al, 2010;Olive et al, 2019).…”

“…Subsequent works regard Berg's diagnosis as inadequate to differentially diagnose the family (Gardiner, 1960;Hilton et al, 2004;López-Arbarello et al, 2013;Olive et al, 2019) -in part due to the poor post-cranial ossification in these fishes; and because the number of radial supports in the dorsal fin among basal actinopterygians has been poorly surveyed (Hilton et al, 2004). Despite difficulties diagnosing members of the family, taxa currently included in †Coccolepididae range from the Sinemurian stage of the Early Jurassic to the Barremian-Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous (Forey et al, 2010;Olive et al, 2019). They are predominately found in freshwater environments, although a few rare occurrences in shallow marine deposits are documented (Woodward, 1890a;Gardiner, 1960;Hilton et al, 2004;Ebert et al, 2021;López-Arbarello and Ebert, 2021).…”

“…The type taxon, †Coccolepis bucklandi Agassiz, 1843, is described from the Tithonian Solnhofen Plattenkalk in Bavaria (Germany), with numerous additional species ranging from the Early Jurassic -Early Cretaceous subsequently referred to †Coccolepis (see Hilton et al, 2004 andLópez-Arbarello and, for a review). However, many of these species have since been placed into their own genera (e.g., †Coccolepis macroptera = †Barbalepis macroptera: Olive et al, 2019) or are recognized as being in urgent need of taxonomic revision (e.g., †'Coccolepis' liassica Woodward, 1890a); only †C. bucklandi and †C.…”