Melvius Explained

Melvius is a genus of vidalamiin amiid fish from the Late Cretaceous.^[1] The type species, Melvius thomasi, was described by Bryant in 1987 from Hell Creek Formation.^[2] A second species Melvius chauliodous, was named and described by Hall and Wolburg in 1989 from Kirtland Formation,^[3] and it is now considered to be one of the index taxa of the Kirtlandian land-vertebrate age. Both species of Melvius were very large at its size. A vertebral remain of M. thomasi would belongs to fish with standard length (length between tip of snout and the base of the caudal fin) of 161cm (63inches), and there are some specimens exceeds height of that vertebra. Total length of this species would be at least NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches).^[4] However, M. thomasi would be a “dwarf” compared to M. chauliodous, a specimen of M. chauliodous with abdominal centra which is 6.57cm (02.59inches) wide would indicate standard length over 2m (07feet), and there is even larger abdominal centra which is 7.3cm (02.9inches) wide.^[5]

References

1. K. M. Cantalice, A. M. Martinez-Melo, and V. A. Romero-Mayén. 2019. The paleoichthyofauna housed in the Colección Nacional de Paleontología of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Zoosystematics and Evolution 95(2):429-452
2. L. J. Bryant. 1987. A new genus and species of Amiidae (Holostei; Osteichthyes) from the Late Cretaceous of North America, with comments on the phylogeny of the Amiidae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 7(4):349-361
3. L. Grande and W. E. Bemis. 1998. A comprehensive phylogenetic study of amiid fishes (Amiidae) based on comparative skeletal anatomy. An empirical search for interconnected patterns of natural history. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 4. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18(1, suppl.):1-690
4. Patterson . Colin . Longbottom . A. E. . 1989 . An Eocene Amiid Fish from Mali, West Africa . Copeia . 1989 . 4 . 827–836 . 10.2307/1445965 . 0045-8511.
5. Sullivan . Robert M. . Jasinski . Steven E. . Williamson . Thomas E. . 2023 . The first articulated skull roof and braincase of Melvius chauliodous (Amiidae, Vidalamiinae) from the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . en . 10.1080/02724634.2023.2264341 . 0272-4634.

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