Lepidotes gloriae, sp. nov. (Actinopterygii: Semionotiformes) from the Late Jurassic of Cuba

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Lepidotes gloriae, sp. nov. (Actinopterygii: Semionotiformes) from the Late Jurassic of Western Cuba is described. The skeletal anatomy of this fish shows two features previously unknown in Lepidotes Agassiz, 1832: 1) presence of two pairs of ectopterygoids and 2) presence of dermometapterygoids. Skeletal elements whose structure is little known or even unknown in other species of Lepidotes have been studied in detail in L. gloriae: 1) branchial tooth plates, 2) endoskeletal shoulder girdle, 3) posttemporal, 4) clavicle, 5) pelvic girdle, and 6) caudal fin skeleton. The sensory canal system on the head of L. gloriae is unique among other species of Lepidotes in having the median part of the supratemporal commissure enclosed within the parietals, in having a medio-anteriorly directed branch of the infraorbital canal behind the orbit reaching from the dermopterotic into the frontal, and in having the ventral part of the median pit line of the skull roof replaced by a short canal traversing the dermopterotic. The cranial sensory canal system is unique among actinopterygians in having developed an oral canal dorsal to the mandibular canal in the anterior part of the dentalosplenial.

This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit: