Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:04:06.153Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Definitive specimens of Merlucciidae (Gadiformes) from the Eocene James Ross Basin of Isla Marambio (Seymour Island), Antarctic Peninsula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2012

Kerin M. Claeson ,
Joseph T. Eastman  and
Ross D. E. Macphee
Kerin M. Claeson*
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Athens OH, USA
Joseph T. Eastman
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Athens OH, USA
Ross D. E. Macphee
Affiliation:
Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York NY, USA
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An isolated partial right dentary (BAS D.515.2) collected by the British Antarctic Survey prompted a re-evaluation of gadiform remains from the La Meseta Formation (conventionally middle Eocene) of Isla Marambio (Seymour Island), Antarctic Peninsula. Modern gadiforms (hakes and cods) range from the Arctic to Antarctic, inhabiting deep sea benthic, shore, estuarine, and freshwater environments. Based on a fossil record primarily composed of otoliths, they are known to extend back to the Eocene and Oligocene. The new specimen was recovered from the fossil penguin locality D.515. It is characterized by a single row of sharp, ankylosed teeth set upon robust bony pedestals. The surface anterior to the mental foramen exhibits ascending and descending ridges with slightly rugose texture. The ascending ridge is fractured, but partially covers the lateral aspect of the tooth row. BAS D.515.2 is unlike the dentary of macrourid gadiforms, also recovered from the Eocene of Antarctica. BAS D.515.2 preserves several features similar to previously published accounts of the gadiform “†Mesetaichthys” from Isla Marambio. These specimens are probably the same taxon and their combined character suite indicates it is a member of Merluccidae. Thus, these are the only non-otolithic skeletal specimens of an Eocene hake known outside of the London Clay's †Rhinocephalus.

Keywords

coddentaryhakeNotothenioidei
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 24 , Issue 5 , 13 September 2012 , pp. 467 - 472
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balushkin, A.V. 1994. Proeleginops grandeastmanorum gen. et sp. nov. (Perciformes, Notothenioidei, Eleginopsidae) from the late Eocene of Seymour Island (Antarctica) is a fossil notothenioid, not a gadiform. Journal of Ichthyology, 34, 10–23.Google Scholar
Case, J.A. 1992. Evidence from fossil vertebrates for a rich Eocene Antarctic marine environment. Antarctic Research Series, 56, 119–130.Google Scholar
Cione, A.L.Reguero, M.A. 1998. A middle Eocene basking shark (Lamniformes, Cetorhinidae) from Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 10, 83–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eastman, J.T. 2000. Antarctic notothenioid fishes as subjects for research in evolutionary biology. Antarctic Science, 12, 276–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eastman, J.T.Grande, L. 1989. Evolution of the Antarctic fish fauna with emphasis on the Recent notothenioids. In Crame, J.A.,ed. Origins and evolution of the Antarctic biota. Geological Society Special Publication, No. 47, 241–252.Google Scholar
Eastman, J.T.Grande, L. 1991. Late Eocene gadiform (Teleostei) skull from Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Science, 3, 87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fink, W.L. 1981. Ontogeny and phylogeny of tooth attachment modes in actinopterygian fishes. Journal of Morphology, 167, 167–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grande, L.Eastman, J.T. 1986. A review of Antarctic ichthyofaunas in the light of new fossil discoveries. Palaeontology, 29, 113–137.Google Scholar
Ivany, L.C., Lohmann, K.C., Hasiuk, F., Blake, D.B., Glass, A., Aronson, R.B.Moody, R.M. 2008. Eocene climate record of a high southern latitude continental shelf: Seymour Island, Antarctica. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 120, 659–678.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jerzmanska, A. 1991. First articulated teleost fish from the Paleogene of West Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 3, 309–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jerzmanska, A.Swidnicki, J. 1992. Gadiform remains from the La Meseta Formation (Eocene) of Seymour Island, West Antarctica. Polish Polar Research, 13, 241–253.Google Scholar
Kriwet, J. 2005. Additions to the Eocene selachian fauna of Antarctica with comments on Antarctic selachian diversity. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kriwet, J.Hecht, T. 2008. A review of early gadiform evolution and diversification: first record of a rattail fish skull (Gadiformes, Macrouridae) from the Eocene of Antarctica, with otoliths preserved in situ. Naturwissenschaften, 95, 899–907.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Long, D.J. 1992. An Eocene wrasse (Perciformes, Labridae) from Seymour Island. Antarctic Science, 4, 235–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, D.J. 1994. Quaternary colonization or Paleogene persistence? Historical biogeography of skates (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae) in the Antarctic ichthyofauna. Paleobiology, 20, 215–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marenssi, S.A. 2006. Eustatically controlled sedimentation recorded by Eocene strata of the James Ross Basin, Antarctica. In Francis, J.E., Pirrie, D. & Crame, J.A., eds. Cretaceous-Tertiary high latitude palaeoenvironments: James Ross Basin, Antarctica. Geological Society of London, Special Publication, No. 258, 125–133.Google Scholar
Marples, B.J. 1953. Fossil penguins from the mid-Tertiary of Seymour Island. Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey Scientific Reports, No. 5, 1–15.Google Scholar
Sadler, P.M. 1988. Geometry and stratification of uppermost Cretaceous and Paleogene units on Seymour Island, northern Antarctica Peninsula. In Feldmann, R.M. & Woodburne, M.O., eds. Geology and paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Geological Society of America Memoir, No. 169, 303–448.Google Scholar
Simpson, G.G. 1971. Review of fossil penguins from Seymour Island. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B178, 357–387.Google Scholar
Ward, D.J.Grande, L. 1991. Chimaeroid fish remains from Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Science, 3, 323–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar