A Miocene lightfish Vinciguerria sp. (Stomiiformes: Phosichthyidae) from the North-West Pacific with notes on the recent evolution of the genus

ABSTRACT

Two specimens of lightfish Vinciguerria sp. were discovered in the rock beds of the middle to late Miocene Kurasi Formation at the south-western coast of the Sakhalin Island, Eastern Russia. A detailed study of their morphology shows that this form cannot be assigned to any known species, although it possesses some similarity with the Oligocene species †V. obscura. Considered together with other Miocene congeners this form demonstrates a high morphological diversity of the Neogene lightfishes. Some aspects of the evolution of the genus during the last 40 M.y. are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Fossil lightfish
• Vinciguerria sp
• Miocene
• West Pacific
• evolution rate

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Alexandre F. Bannikov (Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia) and Werner Schwarzhans (University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark) for their valuable comments and corrections which greatly improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The reported study was funded by RFBR and National Research Foundation of Korea according to the research project № 19-54-51001 and under the framework of international cooperation program managed by the National Research Foundation of Korea (2019K2A9A1A0609922511); Российский Фонд Фундаментальных Исследований (РФФИ) [19-54-51001];