Relationships of the species of Armigatus (Clupeomorpha, Ellimmichthyiformes) and the description of a new species from the Cretaceous of Dalmatia, Croatia

ABSTRACT

The extinct clupeomorph genus Armigatus has been included in a number of phylogenetic analyses, with disagreement about its placement and relationships among the fishes of the extinct clupeomorph order Ellimmichthyiformes. There are currently four species known, all from the Late Cretaceous Tethys Sea. Here we describe a fifth species of Armigatus from Campanian deposits of Dalmatia and present a phylogenetic analysis of the genus. The new species is found to be sister group to A. oligodentatus from Morocco, and the two together form the sister group to the species from Lebanon, A. namourensis plus A. brevissimus (A. alticorpus was excluded because of lack of data). The genus Armigatus is found to be monophyletic, as are the included members of its sister group, Diplomystus, and the analysis supports the grouping of these two genera in the family Armigatidae. The relationships among the species of Armigatus indicate that these fishes arose in the eastern part of the central Tethys, then from there reached more northern (Dalmatian) and western (Morocco) areas.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:178B49D2-8D68-4C88-937E-EE93E3C424F7

Citation for this article: Murray, A. M., O. Vernygora, S. Japundžić, J. Radovčić, M. V. H. Wilson, D. Bardack, and T. Grande. 2016. Relationships of the species of Armigatus (Clupeomorpha, Ellimmichthyiformes) and the description of a new species from the Cretaceous of Dalmatia, Croatia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1226851.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Our thanks to Z. Johanson (NHM) for searching through the collections in her care for possible Portuguese Armigatus specimens. Many thanks to L. Taverne for providing information we originally missed and to L. Taverne, associate editor C. Underwood, and an anonymous reviewer for providing many comments that improved the manuscript.