Oniichthys Explained

Oniichthys is an extinct genus of gar in the family Lepisosteidae. It contains a single species, O. falipoui, known from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Morocco.^[1]

It is known from a few very well-preserved, near-complete specimens from the Kem Kem Formation, where it coexisted with the famous Spinosaurus.^[2] It closely resembles the modern genus Atractosteus, and is generally placed as its sister genus, a sister to Atractosteus and Lepisosteus, or even as a species within Atractosteus as per Grande (2010),^[3] although this latter view has been disputed based on differences in skull morphology.^{[4] [5]}

The genus name references the Ooni, divine Yoruba kings, while the specific epithet honors Christian Falipou, who loaned one of the type specimens.

Notes and References

1. Cavin . Lionel . Brito . Paulo M. . 2001 . A new Lepisosteidae (Actinopterygii, Ginglymodi) from the Cretaceous of the Kem Kem Beds, southern Morocco . . 172 . 5 . 661–670 . 10.2113/172.5.661.
2. Ibrahim . Nizar . Sereno . Paul C. . Varricchio . David J. . Martill . David M. . Dutheil . Didier B. . Unwin . David M. . Baidder . Lahssen . Larsson . Hans C. E. . Zouhri . Samir . Kaoukaya . Abdelhadi . 2020-04-21 . Geology and paleontology of the Upper Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of eastern Morocco . ZooKeys . en . 928 . 1–216 . 10.3897/zookeys.928.47517 . 1313-2970 . 7188693 . 32362741 . 2020ZooK..928....1I . free.
3. An Empirical Synthetic Pattern Study of Gars (Lepisosteiformes) and Closely Related Species, Based Mostly on Skeletal Anatomy. The Resurrection of Holostei . Grande . Lance . Copeia . 2010 . 2010 . 2A . iii–871. 20787269 .
4. Cavin . Lionel . Boudad . Larbi . Tong . Haiyan . Läng . Emilie . Tabouelle . Jérôme . Vullo . Romain . 2015-05-27 . Taxonomic Composition and Trophic Structure of the Continental Bony Fish Assemblage from the Early Late Cretaceous of Southeastern Morocco . PLOS ONE . en . 10 . 5 . e0125786 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0125786 . 1932-6203 . 4446216 . 26018561 . 2015PLoSO..1025786C . free .
5. Cooper . Samuel L. A. . Gunn . James . Brito . Paulo M. . Zouhri . Samir . Martill . David M. . 2023-11-01 . A new fully marine, short-snouted lepisosteid gar from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) of North Africa . Cretaceous Research . 151 . 105650 . 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105650 . 2023CrRes.15105650C . 259520870 . 0195-6671. free .