Issues of species diagnostics of fossil fishes

Abstract

The article is devoted to the methodological problems of diagnostics of the palaeoich-thyological material from alluvial sediments and to the search for ways of their solu-tion on the example of processing fish remains from late Cenozoic deposits in the south of Eastern Europe. The complexity of such studies (determination to the species level based on skeletal elements) is noted given the limited amount of respective information in the diagnoses accepted in ichthyology. The importance of creation and enrichment of comparative osteological collections is emphasised and possible alternative sources of information for species diagnostics of fossil fish remains from sediments of different age are proposed. Accurate and detailed identification of the palaeoichthyological ma-terial directly depends on the state of its preservation. A set of skeletal structures and features is presented, according to which the author has described extinct species of bony fishes as new to science. The specifics of the use of open nomenclature during the processing of palaeoichthyological material are explained. A new approach to deter-mining the systematic affiliation of fish remains is described and the contradiction be-tween morphological and molecular data is clarified.