A new species of Lates (Perciformes, Latidae) from the Late Miocene of Ukraine and notes on the latest records of lates perches in the Eastern Paratethys

ABSTRACT

The family Latidae is considered to have originated in marine waters of the Tethys, and the fossil record of this group indicates a widespread occurrence of latid fishes in the past. In the Mediterranean–Paratethyan basins, the genus Lates is represented by a number of fossil species, the youngest of which have been reported from Miocene deposits of Italy and Ukraine. Here we report on Lates fossils recovered from Late Miocene (Pontian) deposits of the Shkodova Gora locality of Ukraine, with a description of a new species †Lates odessanus sp. nov. The new species bears distinct morphological traits, especially on its maxilla, premaxilla, and parasphenoid, not found in other spatiotemporally close relatives. The fossil record shows that much of the latid species diversity was lost after the Late Miocene, and the newly described species, †L. odessanus, appears to be the last known extinct representative of this group in low salinity deposits of the Mediterranean–Paratethyan basins. The only extant Lates species in the Mediterranean, L. niloticus, has survived in estuarine environments of the southern shore.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research of OK and ZB was carried out as part of the project “Development of the biota in the late Cenozoic of Ukraine” funded by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine (No. 0120U100451). The research of OK was additionally supported by an individual grant “The role of particular fish groups in the functioning of late Mesozoic and Cenozoic ecosystems of Eastern Europe” (No. 0123U102984) from the NAS of Ukraine. We are sincerely thankful to the editor T. Argyriou (Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany), as well as A. E. Schrøder (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive review of the manuscript. We also wish to thank N. Podoplelova for providing access to the PM ONU collection under her care.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

OK designed the project, gathered the original data and prepared the map (Fig. 1). OO and AM analysed the data, JD prepared Figures 2, 3, and 4. All authors participated in writing the original draft of the manuscript, its subsequent editing, and making revisions.

DATA AVAILABILITY

All data used are present in the text.