A new pearleye (Teleostei, Aulopiformes) species from the Oligocene of Romania

Abstract

A new pearleye species of the alepisauroid family Scopelarchidae, Scopelarchoides neamticus sp. nov., is described herein based on two specimens from the Oligocene Lower Dysodilic Shales Formation, cropping out in the Pietricica Mountain, Romanian Eastern Carpathians. The new species described herein exhibits a unique combination of features (including head length about 25% of SL; coracoid remarkably expanded; both preorbital and postorbital lengths larger than orbit diameter; 50 or 51 vertebrae; dorsal fin with nine or ten rays; anal-fin with 28 rays; length of anal fin base about 30% of SL; preanal distance almost 60% of SL; pelvic fin insertion located just under the second dorsal fin ray; pectoral fins only slightly longer than pelvic fins; caudal fin with 19 principal rays plus 14 upper and 13 lower procurrent rays) that justifies its recognition as a new species of the genus Scopelarchoides. Both morphological and meristic features suggest a certain degree of similarity between S. neamticus sp. nov. and the extant species Scopelarchoides signifer. The fossils of the new Oligocene species described herein represent the oldest known skeletal record of Scopelarchidae.