Ampheristus
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| Ampheristus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Ophidiiformes |
| Family: | Ophidiidae |
| Genus: | †Ampheristus König, 1825 |
| Type species | |
| †Ampheristus toliapicus König, 1825 | |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
Ampheristus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish. It was a basal or stem member of the family Ophidiidae, which contains modern cusk-eels. Fossils are known from worldwide (the United States, Europe, India, and New Zealand) from the Late Cretaceous to the late Paleogene (Maastrichtian to Oligocene), making it a rather successful survivor of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.[1]
It is one of the oldest known members of the order Ophidiiformes alongside Pastorius from the Maastrichtian of Italy.[2] Only the type species, A. toliapicus from the London Clay, is known from body fossils; the rest are known only by the genus's distinctive otoliths.[1]
