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A new genus of bill-fish like Plethodid Rhamphoichthys has been described from the Cretaceous of Lebanon and Germany. paper link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376263633_The_first_articulated_skeletons_of_enigmatic_Late_Cretaceous_billfish-like_actinopterygians What's interesting is that the billfish like body plan here is AGAIN convergent - Rhamphoichthys is a Plethodid, unrelated to the more famous Creteaceous "billfish" Protosphyraena (a Pachycormid). Both of these are yet again unrelated to modern billfish (the Xiphiidae). In this paper, two previously dubious species of Protosphyraena have been assigned to this new genus: P. stebbingi and P. minor, now R. stebbingi and R. minor. Pics!

Since it's SOOOO cold here in the Midwest and I can't get out, I finally got around to prepping one of the pile of jackets I have in my basement that we've collected in the Niobrara Chalk of Kansas over the years. This is a small Protosphyreana pectoral fin. It's just over a foot long. (We have others that are over 3 feet long.) Protosphyreana is a swordfish-type critter that is mostly known from its serrated pectoral fins and its rostrum. This specimen was collected in 2002. The tip is missing as that was what was weathering out. A bonus was the scapulo-coracoid (shoulder girdle) was associated with the fin as well as a skull fragment. I neglected to take photos at the beginning of the process, so what I didn't document was the removal of the rock covering the fossil and the cutting down of the jacket. What is documented is the cut down jacket with plaster poured around it to make a rectangular display. The tip is reconstructed with plaster and painted to match the bone. Finally, the plaster is "painted" with dissolved chalk that makes it look like it's a piece of chalk rather than plaster. http://oceansofkansas.com/Protosphyr.html