Acrotemnus Explained

Acrotemnus is an extinct genus of marine pycnodontid ray-finned fish from various areas of the Tethys Sea that lived during the Turonian stage of the Upper Cretaceous. The genus comprises three species A. faba,^[1] A. streckeri, and A. megafrendodon.^[2]

Description

Acrotemnus was initially known from just the type species A. faba described by Louis Agassiz in 1843 from specimens collected in Niger. However, Shimada, Portillo, and Cronin, 2021 described the specimen TxVP 43056-3 as Acrotemnus cf. A. streckeri lumping the whole genus Macropycnodon into Acrotemnus.

Classification

In its description, Agassiz, 1836 recovers it as a pycnodontid. Shimada, Portillo, and Cronin, 2021 retain this placement in their redescription of A. streckeri, and A. megafrendodon.

See also

• Prehistoric fish
• List of prehistoric bony fish

Notes and References

1. L. Agassiz. 1836. Recherches Sur Les Poissons Fossiles. Tome I (livr. 18). Imprimerie de Petitpierre, Neuchatel
2. Shimada . Kenshu . Portillo . Dianne . Cronin . Timothy . A new pycnodont specimen (Actinopterygii: Pycnodontiformes) from the Upper Cretaceous of Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA, confirming the bony fish genus Macropycnodon as a junior synonym of Acrotemnus . Cretaceous Research . August 2021 . 124 . 10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104797 . 233924239 . 1 December 2023.