A New Basal Actinopterygian Fish from the Anisian (Middle Triassic) of Luoping, Yunnan Province, Southwest China

Abstract

The new neopterygian fish taxon

Redescription ofDapedium pholidotum(Agassiz, 1832) (Actinopterygii, Neopterygii) from the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale, with comments on the phylogenetic position ofDapediumLeach, 1822

“…Dapediidae and Pycnodontiformes were therefore considered as stemgroup teleosts. Teleostean relationships of Dapedium were also hypothesized by Xu & Wu (2012) and Wen et al (2012) in their studies on deep-bodied basal neopterygians from the Triassic of China. These authors based their cladistic analyses completely or partially on the character matrices of Olson (1984) and Gardiner et al (1996), with the resulting teleostean relationships of Dapedium therefore of no surprise.…”

A new species ofAltisolepis(Peltopleuriformes, Actinopterygii) from the Middle Triassic of Southern China

“…In the Monte San Giorgio area of the western Tethys, the Besano Formation and Meride Limestone fish assemblages are dominated by subholosteans, which supports the previously proposed hypothesis that they radiated intensively in the Late Anisian-Early Ladinian (Brough, 1939;B€ urgin, 1992), followed by the neopterygians in the Norian (Tintori, 1998). However, the new south China discoveries in the vertebrate-bearing levels of Panxian (Guizhou Province) and Luoping (Yunnan Province) have greatly changed this hypothesis and indicate that neopterygians already radiated during the MiddleLate Anisian Tintori et al, 2008Tintori et al, , 2010Lin et al, 2011;L opez-Arbarello et al, 2011;Lombardo et al, 2011), with several morphologically specialized forms (Wen et al, 2012;Xu and Wu, 2012).…”

“…Among actinopterygians, several non-neopterygian species have been ascribed to already known genera such as Saurichthys (Wu et al, 2009, Habroichthys (Lin et al, 2011), andPerleidusas (Lombardo et al, 2011) as well as to the new genera Fuyuanperleidus and Luopingichthys Geng et al, 2012). Among neopterygians, apart from a new species referred to the genus Sangiorgioichthys (L opez- Arbarello et al, 2011), several new taxa with advanced morphological specializations have been erected (Marcopoloichthys ani Tintori et al, 2008; Gymnoichthys inopinatus Tintori et al, 2010;Kyphosichthys grandei Xu and Wu, 2012; Luoxiongichthys hyperdorsalis Wen et al, 2012), pointing to a neopterygian radiation. Several other undescribed non-neopterygians and basal neopterygians are still under preparation.…”

Taphonomy and palaeobiology of early Middle Triassic coprolites from the Luoping biota, southwest China: Implications for reconstruction of fossil food webs

“…In both the Shangshikan and Daaozi sections, the Luoping biota came from two main horizons. The lower fossil horizon records abundant fishes, marine reptiles, shrimps, crinoids, plant fossils, and other invertebrates, while the upper fossil horizon yields numerous marine reptiles along with rare shrimps (Bai et al, 2011;Wu et al, 2009Wu et al, , 2011Wen et al, 2012Wen et al, , 2013Liu et al, 2014). Coprolites were collected mainly from the lower fossil horizon (Fig.…”

“…This is probably because vertebrates, especially fishes, had diversified greatly in Luoping during the early Middle Triassic, and they provided sufficient food resources for carnivores of various taxonomic groups. Such a diversification of fishes is strengthened by the extremely abundant body fossils documented from Luoping (Wu et al, 2009(Wu et al, , 2011Wen et al, 2012Wen et al, , 2013Benton et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2014). In addition, some carnivorous animals seem to have developed a very strong digestive system, enabling them to dissolve bone materials and only leave teeth of those prey animals as inclusions in their scats (Figs 6I, 9A-C).…”