Teleostei

Fossil of Pholidophorus bechei in the Urwelt-Museum Hauff Holzmaden, photographed by Ghedoghedo.

Belongs within: Neopterygii.
Contains: Pachycormidae, Elopomorpha, Osteoglossocephalai.

The Teleostei are a clade including the majority of living ray-finned fishes. Teleosts are characterised by the presence of one or more uroneurals, modifications of the vertebral neural arches that support the caudal fin. Early members include the Mesozoic Pholidophoriformes, small fishes up to forty centimetres long that retain plesiomorphic features such as ganoid scales and enamel on the skull bones. The Triassic Leptolepidae possess more ossified vertebrae than Pholidophoriformes and bear cycloid scales (Bond 1996).

Synapomorphies (from Friedman et al. 2010): Internal carotid foramen present through parasphenoid; symplectic articulation on inner medial surface of quadrate; uroneurals present; pectoral propterygium fused to first pectoral fin-ray.

Teleostei [Archaeophylaces, Isospondyli, Malacopterygii, Teleosteomorpha]
    |--+--Pachycormidae FS10
    |  |--Tetragonolepis semicincta GX17
    |  `--Dapediidae G93
    |       |--Dapedium pholidotum A01, GX17
    |       |--Dandya White & Moy-Thomas 1940 G93
    |       |--Prohalecites Deeke 1889 G93
    |       `--Heterostrophus Wagner 1860 G93
    `--+--Ichthyokentemidae [Catervariolidae, Galkiniidae] P93
       |    |--Ichthyokentema purbeckensis (Davis 1887) GX17, P93
       |    |--Catervariolus G88
       |    |--Elpistoichthys pectinatus Griffith 1977 P93
       |    `--Ceramurus macrocephalus Egerton 1854 P93
       |--Pholidophoriformes B96
       |    |  i. s.: Seefeldia watsoni D01
       |    |         Pholidolepis africana D01
       |    |--Pleuropholis P93 [Ligulellidae, Majokiidae, Pleuropholidae G88]
       |    |    |--P. decastroi Bravi 1991 P93
       |    |    `--P. thiollieri Sauvage 1883 P93
       |    `--Pholidophoridae [Archaeomenidae] AS09
       |         |--Pholidophoretes salvus Griffith 1977 P93
       |         |--Gurvanichthys mongoliensis V-RR93
       |         |--Archaeomaene tenuis Woodward 1895 F71
       |         |--Neopholidophoropsis serrata Taverne 1981 P93
       |         |--Wadeichthys oxyops Waldman 1971 P93
       |         |--Pholidophoristion P93
       |         |    |--P. ornatus (Agassiz 1844) P93
       |         |    `--P. spaethi Taverne 1981 P93
       |         `--Pholidophorus FS10
       |              |--P. bechei FS10
       |              |--P. germanicus FS10
       |              |--P. latisculus A01
       |              `--P. macrocephalus FS10
       `--+--+--Dorsetichthys bechei GX17
          |  `--Leptolepidae [Koonwarriidae, Leptolepididae, Leptolepidiformes, Leptolepimorpha] D01
          |       |--Koonwarria manifrons Waldman 1971 P93
          |       |--Proleptolepis Nybelin 1974 D01
          |       |    |--P. elongata D01
          |       |    |--P. furcata D01
          |       |    `--P. megalops D01
          |       `--Leptolepis A01
          |            |--L. coryphaenoides FS10
          |            |--L. koonwarri Waldman 1971 P93
          |            |--L. normandica D01
          |            `--L. talbragarensis Woodward 1895 [incl. L. gregarius Woodward 1895, L. lowei Woodward 1895] F71
          `--+--Varasichthyidae A01
             `--+--Teleocephala [Elopocephala] A01
                |    |  i. s.: Protostomiatidae P93
                |    |           |--Protostomias maroccanus Arambourg 1954 P93
                |    |           `--Pronotacanthus Woodward 1900 P93, W00
                |    |                `--*P. sahelalmae (Davis 1887) [=Anguilla sahelalmae] W00
                |    |--Elopomorpha FS10
                |    `--Osteoglossocephalai FS10
                `--Ichthyodectidae [Icthyodectiformes, Ichthyodectoidei] A01
                     |--Xiphactinus Leidy 1870 P93, FS10
                     |--Gillicus P93
                     |--Cladocyclus G88
                     |    |--C. gardneri BWW93
                     |    `--C. sweeti F71
                     `--Thrissops P93
                          |--T. formosus Agassiz 1833 P93
                          `--T. subovatus Münster 1833 P93

Teleostei incertae sedis:
  Ascalabos viothii FS10
  Telestes pleurobipunctatus KKV03
  Membras martinicus K-M02
  Tselfatoidiformes B96
  Platypoecilus maculatus D37
  Palaeolabrus [Palaeolabridae] G88
  Siyuichthyidae P93
  Allothrissops [Allothrissopidae] P93
    |--A. mesogaster (Agassiz 1833) P93
    |--A. regleyi (Thollière 1854) P93
    `--A. salmoneus (Blainville 1818) P93
  Saurodontidae P93
    |--Saurodon intermedius (Newton 1878) P93
    `--Saurocephalus lanciformis Harlan 1824 P93
  Molinichthys inopinatus Gayet 1982 P93
  Protaulopsis bolcensis Woodward 1901 P93
  Aidachar paludalis Nessov 1981 B93
  Neocybium rostratum Leriche 1908 F91

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AS09] Alfaro, M. E., F. Santini, C. Brock, H. Alamillo, A. Dornburg, D. L. Rabosky, G. Carnevale & L. J. Harmon. 2009. Nine exceptional radiations plus high turnover explain species diversity in jawed vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106 (32): 13410–13414.

[A01] Arratia, G. 2001. The sister-group of Teleostei: consensus and disagreements. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21 (4): 767–773.

[B93] Benton, M. J. 1993. Reptilia. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 681–715. Chapman & Hall: London.

[B96] Bond, C. E. 1996. Biology of Fishes 2^nd ed. Saunders College Publishing: Fort Worth.

[BWW93] Briggs, D. E. G., M. J. Weedon & M. A. Whyte. 1993. Arthropoda (Crustacea excluding Ostracoda). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 321–342. Chapman & Hall: London.

[D01] Delsate, D. 2001. L’ichthyofaune du Pliensbachian (Jurassique inferieur) de Lorraine et des Ardennes (France): premiers resultats. Bulletin de l’Académie Lorraine des Sciences 40 (1–2): 47–69.

[D37] Dobzhansky, T. 1937. Genetics and the Origin of Species. Columbia University Press: New York.

[F71] Fletcher, H. O. 1971. Catalogue of type specimens of fossils in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Australian Museum Memoir 13: 1–167.

[F91] Freess, W. B. 1991. Beiträge zur Kenntnis von Fauna und Flora des marinen Mitteloligozäns bei Leipzig. Altenburger Naturwissenschaftliche Forschungen 6: 3–74.

[FS10] Friedman, M., K. Shimada, L. D. Martin, M. J. Everhart, J. Liston, A. Maltese & M. Triebold. 2010. 100-million-year dynasty of giant planktivorous bony fishes in the Mesozoic seas. Science 327: 990–993.

[G93] Gardiner, B. G. 1993. Osteichthyes: basal actinopterygians. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 611–619. Chapman & Hall: London.

[GX17] Giles, S., G.-H. Xu, T. J. Near & M. Friedman. 2017. Early members of 'living fossil' lineage imply later origin of modern ray-finned fishes. Nature 549: 265–268.

[G88] Gray, J. 1988. Evolution of the freshwater ecosystem: the fossil record. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 62: 1–214.

[K-M02] Klein-MacPhee, G. 2002. Jacks. Family Carangidae. In: Collette, B. B., & G. Klein-MacPhee (eds) Bigelow and Schroeder’s Fishes of the Gulf of Maine 3^rd ed. pp. 411–427. Smithsonian Institute Press: Washington.

[KKV03] Kontula, T., S. V. Kirilchik & R. Väinölä. 2003. Endemic diversification of the monophyletic cottoid fish species flock in Lake Baikal explored with mtDNA sequencing. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27: 143–155.

[P93] Patterson, C. 1993. Osteichthyes: Teleostei. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 621–656. Chapman & Hall: London.

[V-RR93] Vickers-Rich, P., & T. H. Rich. 1993. The ICI Australia Catalogue of the Great Russian Dinosaurs Exhibition 1993–1995. Monash University.

[W00] Woodward, A. S. 1900. Evidence of an extinct eel (Urenchelys anglicus, sp. n.) from the English Chalk. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 5: 321–323, pl. 9.

Last updated: 13 February 2022.