Abstract
The clupeomorph genus Armigatus is an extinct group of fish which comprises five species of small marine fishes described from the Late Cretaceous Tethys Sea. Of the five species, A. alticorpus is the least well known and least studied species. The most recent cladistic analyses of the group exclude A. alticorpus due to a lack of sufficient information for the taxon. Here we report new material of Armigatus from the Cenomanian of Hakel, Lebanon. The mass mortality slab preserves multiple clupeomorph fishes including specimens of two species of Armigatus, A. namourensis and A. alticorpus, which have previously been known only from Namoura, Lebanon. The good preservation of skull elements and caudal skeletons of the A. alticorpus specimens provides necessary information for inclusion of this species in a phylogenetic analysis. Results of the phylogenetic reassessment of A. alticorpus indicate that the species had close affinities to the two younger species of the genus, A. oligodentatus and A. dalmaticus. The three species together (A. alticorpus (A. oligodentatus + A. dalmaticus)) belong to a separate lineage from their sister-clade, (A. brevissimus + A. namourensis). Comparative examination of the multiple specimens of each species enabled us to establish a set of morphological traits which allow a more reliable delimitation of the species of Armigatus; this includes number of abdominal scutes, vertebrae, predorsal bones, as well as position of the dorsal fin.
Published Version
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