A NEW EOCENE CITHARINOID FISH (OSTARIOPHYSI: CHARACIFORMES) FROM TANZANIA
Alison M. Murray, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2003, 23(3):501–507
A single specimen of the anterior portion of a small fish was collected from the Eocene Mahenge site of Tanzania in 1996. The specimen, preserved as part and counterpart natural mold, is identified as belonging to a characiform fish, although the presence of a Weberian apparatus has not been confirmed beyond doubt. Features of the bones, such as the prominent lateral ridge on the anterodorsal corner of the opercle, the fused postcleithra 23, and the lack of a dentary symphyseal hinge, indicate that the fish is related to the Citharinidae and Distichodontidae. The fossil cannot be included in any known genus, and is described here as a new genus and species, Eocitharinus macrognathus . The fossil record of characiforms includes few articulated skeletons, of which only one had been reported previously from Africa, described in the family Characidae (=Alestidae).