Saurichthyiformes Explained

Saurichthyiformes is an extinct order of ray-finned fish which existed in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and North America, during the late Permian to early Middle Jurassic.^{[1] [2] [3]} Saurichthyiiformes comprise two families, Saurichthyidae and Yelangichthyidae. Yelangichthyidae is monotypic, containing only the genus Yelangichthys. The gar or needlefish-like Saurichthyidae is primarily known from the genus Saurichthys. Additionally, the subgenera Saurorhynchus Costasaurichthys, Eosaurichthys, Lepidosaurichthys, and Sinosaurichthys are frequently used to group species, and are sometimes considered separate genera. Species are known from both marine end freshwater deposits. They had their highest diversity during the Early and Middle Triassic.^[4] Their phylogenetic position is uncertain, while they have often been considered members of Chondrostei, and thus related to living sturgeons and paddlefish, phylogenetic analysis of well-preserved remains has considered this relationship equivocal. They may actually belong to the stem-group of Actinopterygii, and thus not closely related to any living group of ray-finned fish.^[5]

Systematics

• Order †Saurichthyiformes Aldinger, 1937 [Saurichthyida <small>Berg, 1937]^{[6] [7] [8]}
  • Family †Saurichthyidae Owen 1860 [Saurichthyoidei <small>Bleeker 1859</small>; Belonorhynchidae <small>Woodward 1888</small>; Saurorhynchidae <small>Jordan, 1905</small>]
    • Genus †Saurichthys Agassiz, 1834 [''Belonorhynchus'' <small>Bronn 1858</small>; ''Brevisaurichthys'' <small>Beltan 1972</small>; ''Giffonus'' <small>Costa 1862</small>; ''Gymnosaurichthys'' <small>Berg 1940</small>; ''Ichthyorhynchus'' <small>Bellotti 1857</small>; ''Stylorhynchus'' <small>Martin 1873, non Lesson 1847, non Stein 1848</small>; ''Systolichthys'' <small>Beltan 1972</small>]
      • †Saurichthys apicalis Agassiz 1834 (type species)
      • †Saurichthys breviabdominalis Maxwell et al. 2015^[9]
      • †Saurichthys curionii (Bellotti 1857)
      • †Saurichthys daubreei Firtion 1934
      • †Saurichthys dawaziensis Wu et al. 2009
      • †Saurichthys dianneae Maxwell et al. 2016
      • †Saurichthys dongusensis Minich 1992
      • †Saurichthys eximius Minikh 1982
      • †Saurichthys gigas (Woodward 1890), non von Quenstedt 1858
      • †Saurichthys gracilis (Woodward 1890)
      • †Saurichthys grignae Tintori 2013
      • †Saurichthys gypsophilus Reis 1892
      • †Saurichthys hamiltoni Stensiö 1925
      • †Saurichthys hoffmanni Werneburg et al. 2014
      • †Saurichthys huanshenensis Chou & Liu 1957
      • †Saurichthys irregularis Oertle 1928
      • †Saurichthys latifrons Eck 1865
      • †Saurichthys lepidosteoides Frech 1903
      • †Saurichthys macrocephalus (Deecke 1889)
      • †Saurichthys majiashanensis Tintori et al. 2014
      • †Saurichthys minimahleri Werneburg et al. 2014
      • †Saurichthys nepalensis Beltan & Janvier 1978
      • †Saurichthys obrutchevi Minich 1981
      • †Saurichthys orientalis Sytchevskaya 1999
      • †Saurichthys parvidens Wade 1935
      • †Saurichthys piveteaui Beltan 1968
      • †Saurichthys proximus Minich 1981
      • †Saurichthys rieppeli Maxwell et al. 2015^[9]
      • †Saurichthys sceltrichensis Renesto et al. 2021^[10]
      • †Saurichthys seefeldensis Kner 1867
      • †Saurichthys spinosa Wu et al. 2018 ^[11]
      • †Saurichthys stensioi Lehman 1952
      • †Saurichthys sui Fang & Wu 2022^[12]
      • †Saurichthys tenuirostris Münster 1839 ^[13]
      • †Saurichthys tertius Minich 1982
      • †Saurichthys ultimus Minikh 1992
      • †Saurichthys vjuschkovi Minikh 1983
      • †Saurichthys yangjuanensis Wu et al. 2015
      • †Saurichthys yunnanensis Zhang, Zhou, Lu & Bai 2010
    • Subgenus †Costasaurichthys Tintori, 2013^[14]
      • †Saurichthys (Costasaurichthys) costasquamosus Rieppel 1985 (type species)
      • †Saurichthys (Costasaurichthys) paucitrichus Rieppel 1992
    • Subgenus †Eosaurichthys Liu & Wei, 1988
      • †Saurichthys (Eosaurichthys) chaoi (Liu and Wei 1988) (type species)
      • †Saurichthys (Eosaurichthys) madagascariensis Piveteau 1945^[15]
    • Subgenus †Lepidosaurichthys Tintori, 2013^[14]
      • †Saurichthys (Lepidosaurichthys) dayi (Raymond 1925) (type species)
      • †Saurichthys (Lepidosaurichthys) elongatus Stensiö 1925
      • †Saurichthys (Lepidosaurichthys) ornatus Stensiö 1925
      • †Saurichthys (Lepidosaurichthys) toxolepis Mutter et al. 2008
      • †Saurichthys (Lepidosaurichthys) wimani (Woodward 1912)^[16]
    • Subgenus †Sinosaurichthys Wu et al., 2010^[17]
      • †Saurichthys (Sinosaurichthys) longipectoralis Wu et al. 2009 (type species)
      • †Saurichthys (Sinosaurichthys) longimedialis Wu et al. 2009
      • †Saurichthys (Sinosaurichthys) minuta Wu et al. 2009
    • Genus †Saurorhynchus Reis, 1892 [''Acidorhynchus'' <small>Stensiö, 1925</small>]^[18]
      • †Saurichthys (Saurorhynchus) calcaratus Griffith 1977^[19]
      • †Saurichthys (Saurorhynchus) deperditus (Costa 1862)
      • †Saurichthys (Saurorhynchus) striolatus Bronn 1858^[19]
      • †Saurorhynchus acutus (Agassiz 1844) (type species)
      • †Saurorhynchus anningae Maxwell & Stumpf 2017
      • †Saurorhynchus brevirostris (Woodward 1895)
      • †Saurorhynchus hauffi Maxwell & Stumpf 2017
  • Family †Yelangichthyidae Wu et al., 2013
    • Genus †Yelangichthys Wu et al., 2013
      • †Yelangichthys macrocephalus Wu et al., 2013 (type species)

Phylogeny

Modified from Maxwell et al.^[20] (also see Renesto et al.,^[21] Argyriou et al.^[5] and Gardiner et al.^[22])

Timeline of genera

ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15pxPlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px

Period = from:-298.9 till:-145TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:-298.9ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-298.9TimeAxis = orientation:horAlignBars = justify

Colors = #legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:permian value:rgb(0.94,0.25,0.24) id:earlypermian value:rgb(0.89,0.46,0.36) id:middlepermian value:rgb(0.95,0.56,0.45) id:latepermian value:rgb(0.97,0.74,0.66) id:mesozoic value:rgb(0.38,0.77,0.79) id:triassic value:rgb(0.51,0.17,0.57) id:earlytriassic value:rgb(0.6,0.22,0.61) id:middletriassic value:rgb(0.73,0.53,0.71) id:latetriassic value:rgb(0.78,0.65,0.8) id:jurassic value:rgb(0.2,0.7,0.79) id:earlyjurassic value:rgb(0,0.69,0.89) id:middlejurassic value:rgb(0.52,0.81,0.91) id:latejurassic value:rgb(0.74,0.89,0.97) id:cretaceous value:rgb(0.5,0.78,0.31) id:earlycretaceous value:rgb(0.63,0.78,0.65) id:latecretaceous value:rgb(0.74,0.82,0.37) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:NAM2 bar:NAM3 bar:NAM4 bar:NAM5 bar:NAM6 bar:NAM7

bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era

PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop from: -298.9 till: -272.95 color:earlypermian text:Early from: -272.95 till: -259.1 color:middlepermian text:Mid. from: -259.1 till: -251.902 color:latepermian text:Late from: -251.902 till: -247 color:earlytriassic text:E. from: -247 till: -237 color:middletriassic text:Middle from: -237 till: -201.3 color:latetriassic text:Late from: -201.3 till: -174.1 color:earlyjurassic text:Early from: -174.1 till: -163.5 color:middlejurassic text:Middle from: -163.5 till: -145 color:latejurassic text:Late

bar:eratop from: -298.9 till: -251.902 color:permian text:Permian from: -251.902 till: -201.3 color:triassic text:Triassic from: -201.3 till: -145 color:jurassic text:Jurassic

PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left

color:latepermian bar:NAM1 from:-254.14 till:-251.2 text:Eosaurichthys color:middletriassic bar:NAM2 from:-242 till:-237 text:Costasaurichthys color:earlytriassic bar:NAM3 from:-251.2 till:-248 text:Lepidosaurichthys color:earlytriassic bar:NAM4 from:-251.902 till:-201.3 text:Saurichthys color:earlyjurassic bar:NAM5 from:-227.0 till:-170.3 text:Saurorhynchus color:middletriassic bar:NAM6 from:-247 till:-242 text:Sinosaurichthys color:middletriassic bar:NAM7 from:-247 till:-242 text:Yelangichthys

PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25

bar:period from: -298.9 till: -272.95 color:earlypermian text:Early from: -272.95 till: -259.1 color:middlepermian text:Mid. from: -259.1 till: -251.902 color:latepermian text:Late from: -251.902 till: -247 color:earlytriassic text:E. from: -247 till: -237 color:middletriassic text:Middle from: -237 till: -201.3 color:latetriassic text:Late from: -201.3 till: -174.1 color:earlyjurassic text:Early from: -174.1 till: -163.5 color:middlejurassic text:Middle from: -163.5 till: -145 color:latejurassic text:Late

bar:era from: -298.9 till: -251.902 color:permian text:Permian from: -251.902 till: -201.3 color:triassic text:Triassic from: -201.3 till: -145 color:jurassic text:Jurassic

Additional references

• Sepkoski . Jack . A compendium of fossil marine animal genera . Bulletins of American Paleontology . 364 . 560 . 2002 . 2011-05-17 .

Notes and References

1. Stensiö, E.. 1925. Triassic Fishes from Spitzebergen, Part II. Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlinga . 2 . 1–126 .
2. Book: Cartanyà, J.. 1999 . An overview of the Middle Triassic actinopterygians from Alcover, Mont-ral and El Pinetell (Catalonia, Spain). Verlag Dr. F. Pfeil, München. In: G. Arratia and H. P. Schultze (eds.) Mesozoic Fishes 2—Systematics and Fossil Record. 535–551.
3. Maxwell, E.E. (2016): First Middle Jurassic record of Saurichthyidae (Actinopterygii). Paläontologische Zeitschrift 90:287-291 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-015-0281-5
4. Romano C., Kogan I., Jenks J., Jerjen I., Brinkmann W. . 2012 . Saurichthys and other fossil fishes from the late Smithian (Early Triassic) of Bear Lake County (Idaho, USA), with a discussion of saurichthyid palaeogeography and evolution . Bulletin of Geosciences . 87 . 543–570 . 10.3140/bull.geosci.1337 .
5. Argyriou . Thodoris . Giles . Sam . Friedman . Matt . Romano . Carlo . Kogan . Ilja . Sánchez-Villagra . Marcelo R. . December 2018 . Internal cranial anatomy of Early Triassic species of †Saurichthys (Actinopterygii: †Saurichthyiformes): implications for the phylogenetic placement of †saurichthyiforms . BMC Evolutionary Biology . en . 18 . 1 . 161 . 10.1186/s12862-018-1264-4 . 1471-2148 . 6211452 . 30382811 . 2018BMCEE..18..161A . free .
6. Web site: Mikko's Phylogeny Archive. Haaramo. Mikko. 2007. †Saurichthyiformes . 30 December 2016.
7. Book: Nelson. Joseph S.. Grande. Terry C.. Wilson. Mark V. H.. 2016. Fishes of the World. 5th. John Wiley & Sons. 9781118342336.
8. Web site: van der Laan. Richard. 2016. Family-group names of fossil fishes. 2023-12-06.
9. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150331073934.htm Discovery of two new species of primitive fishes
10. Silvio Renesto . Fabio Magnani . Rudolf Stockar . 2021 . A new species of Saurichthys (Actinopterygii: Saurichtydae) from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio . Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia . 127 . 1 . 49–71 . 10.13130/2039-4942/15143 .
11. Fei-Xiang Wu . Yuan-Lin Sun . Geng-Yu Fang . 2018 . A new species of Saurichthys from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) of southwestern China . Vertebrata PalAsiatica . 56 . 4 . 273–294 . 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.171023 .
12. Fang, G., Wu, F.X.. 2022 . The predatory fish Saurichthys reflects a complex underwater ecosystem of the Late Triassic Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, China . Historical Biology . 35. 8. 1–11 . 10.1080/08912963.2022.2098023 . 250567176 .
13. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=65068 Fossilworks: Saurichthys Agassiz 1843
14. Tintori . Andrea . 2013 . A new species of Saurichthys (Actinopterygii) from the Middle Triassic (early Ladinian) of the northern Grigna Mountain (Lombardy, Italy) . Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia . 119 . 3 . 287–302 . 10.13130/2039-4942/6041 . free.
15. Kogan, Romano . 2016 . Redescription of Saurichthys madagascariensis Piveteau, 1945 (Actinopterygii, Early Triassic), with implications for the early saurichthyid morphotype . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 36 . 4. e1151886 . 10.1080/02724634.2016.1151886 . 2016JVPal..36E1886K . 87234436 .
16. Kogan . Ilja . Romano . Carlo . 2016 . A new postcranium of Saurichthys from the Early Triassic of Spitsbergen . Freiberger Forschungshefte C (Paläontologie, Stratigraphie, Fazies 23) . 550 . 205–221 . 9783860125526.
17. Wu Feixiang . Sun Yuanlin . Xu Guanghui . Hao Weicheng . Jiang Dayong . Sun Zuoyu . 2010. New saurichthyid fishes (Actinopterygii) from the Middle Triassic (Pelsonian, Anisian) of southwestern China. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 56 . 10.4202/app.2010.0007 . 54877125 .
18. Kogan, I. (2016): Acidorhynchus Stensiö, 1925 or Saurorhynchus Reis, 1892: how to call the Jurassic saurichthyid? Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie-Abhandlungen 279:123-126 https://doi.org/10.1127/njgpa/2016/0545
19. Ilja Kogan . Andrea Tintori . Martin Licht . 2020 . Locomotor function of scales and axial skeleton in Middle-Late Triassic species of Saurichthys (Actinopterygii . Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia . 126 . 2 . 475–498 . 10.13130/2039-4942/13551 . 244984857 .
20. Maxwell, E.E. . Romano, C. . Wu, F.-X. . amp . 2021 . Regional disparity in the axial skeleton of Saurichthyidae and implications for axial regionalization in non-teleostean actinopterygians. . Journal of Zoology . 315. 29–41. 10.1111/jzo.12878 . 0952-8369 . free.
21. Silvio Renesto . Fabio Magnani . Rudolf Stockar . 2021 . A new species of Saurichthys (Actinopterygii: Saurichtydae) from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio . Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia . 127 . 1 . 49–71 . 10.13130/2039-4942/15143 . free.
22. Gardiner, B.G. . Schaeffer, B. . Masserie, J.A. . amp . 2005 . A review of the lower actinopterygian phylogeny. . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 144 . 4 . 511–525 . 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2005.00181.x . free.