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Pentanogomius is now a swordfish and eel ancestor

Tuesday, December 20, 2022 13:33

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Recent housekeeping in the fish subset
of the large reptile tree (LRT, 2188 taxa, subset Fig 3) moves the traditional Late Cretaceous tselfatiiform fish Pentanogomius (Figs 1, 2) transitional between Late Jurassic Pholidophorus and the origin of eels and swordfish, like Xiphias (Fig 3). Eels and swordfish are not considered members of the clade Tselfatiiformes by fish workers. This clade was thought to have gone extinct in the Late Cretaceous.

Perhaps not.

Figure 1. Pentanogmius in situ, diagram and colorized skull, not revised in figure 2. Compare to swordfish juveniles in figure 3.

According to Wikipedia,
“Pentanogmius evolutus is among the largest known tselfatiiform fish [see below], with NHM P. 10610 measuring 172 cm in standard length (snout to last vertebrae) and 198 cm in total length (snout to the tip of the larger caudal fin).”

Figure 3. Swordfish ontogeny (growth series). Hatchings have teeth, a short bill and an eel-like body still lacing pelvic fins. Note the clipping of the posterior dorsal fin just prior to maturity. Compare to the two species of Pentanogmius in figure 4.

According to Wikipedia,
“The tselfatiiforms could not initially be assigned to a larger kinship group within the Teleostei More recent cladistic studies on the basis of their osteological characteristics have made it clear that they are primitive Clupeocephalans and represent the plesiomorphic sister group of a clade from Otocephala (Clupeomorpha and Ostariophysi) and Euteleostei.”

Clupeocephalans are herrings. Clupea, the herring, nests as an outgroup to the clade that produced Pholidophorus, Pentanogmius, European eels and swordfish in the LRT (Fig 6).

Ostariophysi traditonally include minnows, characins (like piranha), catfish and knifefish. In the LRT these clades do not nest together.

Figure 4. Pentanogmius species. One has a more swordfish-like dorsal fin (see figure 3), clipped shorter posteriorly, but this was by convergence.

Figure 5. Subset of the LRT focusing on swordfish and eel ancestors including Pentanogmius. Gray box taxa are extinct.

References
Cope ED 1877. On some new or little known reptiles and fishes of the Cretaceous of Kansas. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 17: 176-181.
Taverne L 2004. Ostéologie de Pentanogmius evolutus (Cope, 1877) n. comb. (Teleostei, Tselfatiiformes) du Crétacé supérieur marin des États-Unis. Remarques sur la systématique du genre Pentanogmius Taverne, 2000

wiki/Pentanogmius
wiki/Plethodidae
wiki/Tselfatiiformes
wiki/Ostariophysi
oceansofkansas.com/Pentanogmius

Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2022/12/21/pentanogomius-is-now-a-swordfish-and-eel-ancestor/

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