Large-bodied sabre-toothed anchovies reveal unanticipated ecological diversity in early Palaeogene teleosts.

ABSTRACT: Many modern groups of marine fishes first appear in the fossil record during the early Palaeogene (66-40 Ma), including iconic predatory lineages of spiny-rayed fishes that appear to have originated in response to ecological roles left empty after the Cretaceous/Palaeogene extinction. The hypothesis of extinction-mediated ecological release likewise predicts that other fish groups have adopted novel predatory ecologies. Here, we report remarkable trophic innovation in early Palaeogene clupeiforms (herrings and allies), a group whose modern representatives are generally small-bodied planktivores. Two forms, the early Eocene (Ypresian) †Clupeopsis from Belgium and a new genus from the middle Eocene (Lutetian) of Pakistan, bear conspicuous features indicative of predatory ecology, incl

SUBMITTER: Capobianco A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7277248 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature