Paralebias cephalotes (Agassiz, 1839)

Taxonomy

Killifish

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopteri Cope 1871
Order: Cyprinodontiformes Berg 1940
Family: Poeciliidae Bonaparte 1831
Genus: Paralebias
Species: Paralebias cephalotes
Author Citation (Agassiz, 1839)

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Cenozoic
Period: Paleogene
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Oligocene
International Age: Chattian

Stratigraphy

Aix-en-Provence Formation

Provenance

Collector: T. Bastelberger
Date Collected: 06/01/1993
Acquired by: Purchase/Trade

Dimensions

Length: 2 cm

Location

Aix-en-Provence
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
France

• aix-en-provence
• oligocene
• pantanodon
• paralebias
• prolebias
• tff-oilshale-ch236

Comments

Alternative name: Pantanodon cephalotes

Diagnosis from Gaudant 2013, p. 220: "Small cyprinodontiform fishes having a vertebral column composed of about 30 vertebrae, including 18-20 postabdominal vertebrae. Caudal fin paddle-shaped, 10-12 (14) branched rays; caudal endoskeleton with two separate hypural plates. Dorsal fin small: i-ii+I+ 6-9 rays (7-11 pterygiophores); anal fin large, beginning in front of the origin of dorsal fin, ii-iii+I+ 10-14 rays (13-16 pterygiophores, the first of them being slightly arched). Pectoral fins ventro-Iateral; 10-12 rays. Pelvic fins inserted in front of the middle of body, approximately at the level of the third pair of pleural ribs and nearer from the pectorals base than from the origin of the anal fin. Some specimens, which are interpreted as males, show modified fin rays, ending in claw-like articles."

References:
Wilson J. E. M. Costa. The caudal skeleton of extant and fossil cyprinodontiform fishes (Teleostei: Atherinomorpha): comparative morphology and delimitation of phylogenetic characters. Vertebrate Zoology 62 (2) 2012.  p. 161 – 180.
Gaudant, Jean 2013. Occurrence of poecilid fishes in the European Oligocene - Miocene: The genus Paralebias nov. gen. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlung 267, p. 215-222.
Frey, Linda, Maxwell, Erin E., and Sánchez-Villagra, Marcelo R. 2016. Intraspecific variation in fossil vertebrate populations: Fossil killifishes (Actinopterygii: Cyprinodontiformes) from the Oligocene of Central Europe. Palaeontologia Electronica 19.2.14A: 1-27.