A Miocene lightfish Vinciguerria sp. (Stomiiformes: Phosichthyidae) from the North-West Pacific with notes on the recent evolution of the genus

Abstract

ABSTRACT Two specimens of lightfish Vinciguerria sp. were discovered in the rock beds of the middle to late Miocene Kurasi Formation at the south-western coast of the Sakhalin Island, Eastern Russia. A detailed study of their morphology shows that this form cannot be assigned to any known species, although it possesses some similarity with the Oligocene species †V. obscura. Considered together with other Miocene congeners this form demonstrates a high morphological diversity of the Neogene lightfishes. Some aspects of the evolution of the genus during the last 40 M.y. are discussed.