Stomach contents of the Early Jurassic fish †Lepidotes Agassiz, 1832 (Actinopterygii, Lepisosteiformes) and their palaeoecological implications

ABSTRACT

Ginglymodian fishes formed one of the most dominant actinopterygian lineages during the Mesozoic, occurring in fully marine to freshwater depositional environments. However, although commonly preserved in Mesozoic strata around the world, there is little information on the feeding ecology of these fishes, which is mainly due to the scarcity of direct evidence of diet. Here we report two specimens of the ginglymodian fish †Lepidotes (Lepisosteiformes) from the Lower Jurassic of Germany that exhibit gastric contents consisting of small crustacean cuticle fragments indicative of shrimp-like taxa. The dentition of †Lepidotes, which is well adapted to such a diet, combined with its robust body shape and the position and shape of its fins, suggests that other potential food of the Early Jurassic †Lepidotes may have included moderately elusive, relatively soft-shelled or unprotected, free-living invertebrates.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org

KEYWORDS:

• Early Jurassic
• †Lepidotes
• stomach contents
• feeding ecology

Acknowledgments

A. Schmid-Röhl (Fossilienmuseum im Werkforum, Dotternhausen, Germany) allowed D. T. to prepare the †Lepidotes specimen in her care after to the transfer method. S. Meng (University of Greifswald) is thanked for providing access to the collection in his care. Thanks are also due to J. Ansorge (Horst, Germany) for providing information regarding the specimen he has collected. D. Bellwood (Townsville, Australia) discussed functional dental morphology and diet of recent fishes with D.T. W. Riegraf (Münster, Germany) shared his knowledge on the Posidonia Shale fossil record with us. J. Mutterlose (Bochum, Germany) gave access to SEM imaging and R. Neuser (Bochum, Germany) assisted with technical support. D. Bellwood and two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their valuable comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.