Abstract
A small coelacanth specimen of Viséan age from a newly described locality near Rösenbeck at the northern margin of the Rhenish Mountains (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) is described. The head and pectoral girdle are not preserved, however, the specimen can be distinguished from all other known Carboniferous coelacanths by derived characters of the articulated postcranial skeleton. Derived characters include: (1) The slender first and second dorsal fins that carry only seven to eight and six fin rays, respectively. (2) Both the pelvic and anal fin have a broad base and are unusually weakly lobed. (3) The fin rays of the second dorsal fin are much more robust than those of the first dorsal fin. (4) The second dorsal and anal fins are longer than the first dorsal and pelvic fins. The Rösenbeck coelacanth is interpreted as a juvenile specimen, since the basal plates that support the fins are not ossified. <br><br> doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmng.201000004" target="_blank">10.1002/mmng.201000004</a>
Highlights
Coelacanth fishes are a rare component of faunal assemblages in Carboniferous strata of Germany, first reported by Aldinger (1931) and Keller (1934)
(4) The second dorsal and anal fins are longer than the first dorsal and pelvic fins
This taxon was documented in the ‘Namurian’ to ‘Westphalian C’ of the British Isles, northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, in the ‘Westphalian D’ of Linton, Ohio, and the ‘Stephanian’ of the Ukraine (Forey 1981, 1991)
Summary
Coelacanth fishes are a rare component of faunal assemblages in Carboniferous strata of Germany, first reported by Aldinger (1931) and Keller (1934). The caudal fin is diphycercal and possesses a supplementary lobe (Forey 1991) This lobe in the new specimen, is poorly preserved and is only indicated by few remnants of fin rays, so that nothing can be said about its outline and length. Distal to the neural and haemal spines of the caudal fin, there is one row of endoskeletal element in each case These single endoskeletal elements in coelacanths are commonly refered to as dorsal and ventral radials Length and shape of the pectoral fin cannot be reconstructed It is represented by three rather long and parallel, unsegmented fin rays that are located anterior to the preserved part of the vertebral column.
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