Besania Explained

Besania is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish^[1] that lived during the Anisian and Ladinian ages of the Middle Triassic epoch in what is now southern/southeastern Switzerland and northern Italy.^[2] Fossils were recovered from the Besano Formation of Monte San Giorgio area (Swiss-Italian borderland)^[3] and the Prosanto Formation of canton Graubünden, Switzerland.^[4]

Initially considered a perleidiform or luganoiiform, it is now thought to be an indeterminate "halecostome" or basal neopterygian. There are two known species, Besania micrognathus (type species) and B. schaufelbergerae. Both are quite small (– in standard length).

The genus is named after the Italian town of Besano, Lombardy, near Monte San Giorgio.

See also

• Prehistoric fish
• List of prehistoric bony fish

Notes and References

1. Sepkoski . Jack . A compendium of fossil marine animal genera . Bulletins of American Paleontology . 364 . 560 . 2002 . 2009-02-27 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110723131237/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class . 2011-07-23 .
2. Web site: PBDB . 2024-03-15 . paleobiodb.org.
3. Bürgin . Toni . 1992 . Basal ray-finned fishes (Osteichthyes; Actinopterygii) from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio (Canton Tessin, Switzerland). Systematic palaeontology with notes on functional morphology and palaeoecology . Schweizerische Paläontologische Abhandlungen . 114 . 1–164.
4. Herzog . Annette . Bürgin . Toni . 2005 . A new species of the genus Besania Brough 1939 from the Middle Triassic of Canton Grisons (Switzerland) with a discussion of the phylogenetic status of the taxon . Swiss Journal of Geosciences . 98 . 113–122 . 10.1007/s00015-005-1169-2. 91122544 . free .