New Teleosts (Elopomorpha: Albuliformes) from the Lower Cretaceous (Late Albian) of the Eromanga Basin, Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Descriptions of Marathonichthys coyleorum gen. et sp. nov. and Stewartichthys leichhardti gen. et sp. nov. add to the recognised diversity of the Lower Cretaceous (Late Albian) fish fauna of the marine Toolebuc Formation of the Eromanga Basin, Queensland, Australia. Both taxa are referrable to the elopomorph Order Albuliformes. The new taxa are morphologically distinct from both extant and fossil albulids by having their subepiotic and subtemporal fossae poorly developed and in exhibiting separation or apparently partial separation of the parietals by dorsal development of the supraoccipital. The parietal in Stewartichthys is triradiate. Coarse ornamentation of the dorsal neurocranial roof and its much shallower and broader otic region separates M. coyleorum from S. leichhardti. Euroka dunravenensis Bartholomai, 2010, also from the Toolebuc Formation, is much larger than either of the new taxa and has its parasphenoid broadened, much shortened posteriorly and anteriorly complex. It is concluded that early evolutionary radiation of the Albuliformes in the Late Albian epeiric inland sea of the Eromanga Basin was reasonably extensive and diverse.