Davesene et al 2024a, b reported on
a new 3D set of fish skulls assigned to Whitephippus tamensis from the London Clay Formation, early Eocene (50mya, Figs 1, 2).
Figure 1. The original µCT scans of Whitephippus from Davesne et al 2024 preprint. DGS colors and restoration elements added here. Arrows indicate when better preservation was moved to the gray image.
Davesne et al wrote,
“Whitephippus, known by several specimens has been attributed to the extant family Ephippidae (spadefishes) by Woodward (1901) and Casier (1966). However, some authors (Bonde, 1995; Carnevale, 2004; Friedman et al., 2016) have proposed that †Whitephippus should be classified with Lampriformes instead.”
Figure 2. Whitephippus compared to Mene, the moonfish and Regalecus, the oarfish.
The Lampriformes is a traditional bony clade
(Fig 3) consisting of Lampris and Regalecus (opahs and oarfish, Fig 2) and other dissimilar taxa. That clade is not recovered by the LRT where Lampris nests with flying flish and Regalecus nests with Mene the moonfish (Fig 2), a taxon not mentioned in the text. Mene compares well in size and morphology with Whitephippus.
We looked at the oarfish-moonfish connection earlier here.
Figure 3. Traditional Lampriformes now distributed elsewhere in the LRT from 2021.
Add taxa
to test this hypothesis of interrelationships for yourself.
References
Davesne D et al (5 co-authors) 2024a preprint. Three-dimensional anatomy of the early Eocene Whitephippus (Teleostei: Lampriformes) documents parallel conquests of the pelagic environment by multiple teleost lineages. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.13.544748v2
Davesne D et al (4 co-authors) 2024b. Three-dimensional anatomy of the early Eocene Whitephippus (Teleostei: Lampriformes) documents parallel conquests of the pelagic environment by multiple teleost lineages. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 43(3):e2284998
Tiny Mene, the moonfish, enters the LRT alongside Regalecus, the giant oarfish
wiki/Lampriformes
wiki/Whitephippus – not yet posted
