A new species of horse mackerel fish of the genus <i>Archaeus</i> (Carangidae, Percomorpha) from the Lower Oligocene of the North Caucasus

Abstract

A new species of horse mackerel fish (Carangidae), Archaeus solus sp. nov., was described based on the imprint of a complete skeleton from the Lower Oligocene (Pshekha Formation) of Gorny Luch locality. This is the third known species of the Eocene–Oligocene genus Archaeus Agassiz, 1844, and the first discovery of Carangidae in the Oligocene of the North Caucasus. The new species differs from A. glarisianus Agassiz, 1844 from the Rupelian of Switzerland and A. oblongus Daniltshenko, 1968 from the basal Eocene of Turkmenistan by a larger number of rays in both the spiny and soft dorsal fin.