Stephanodus
Extinct genus of fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stephanodus is a form genus of extinct fossil ray-finned fish, referring to the hook-shaped pharyngeal teeth present on the branchial arch of pycnodonts.[1]
| Stephanodus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | †Pycnodontiformes |
| Family: | †Pycnodontidae |
| Genus: | †Stephanodus Zittel, 1883 |
| Type species | |
| †Stephanodus lybicus Zittel, 1883 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Some species placed in this genus were previously assigned to the fossil genus Grypodon Hay, 1899, which itself was created to replace the former genus name Ancistrodon Debey, 1849 due to it being preoccupied by a junior synonym of the snake genus Agkistrodon.[2][3] Eotrigonodon is likely also another synonym for the genus[1], but this is not completely certain.[2]
The following species are placed in this genus:[4][5][6]
- S. lybicus (Zittel, 1888) (type species) - Maastrichtian of Niger (Dukamaje Formation), Mali (Ménaka Formation) & India (Takli, Lameta, and Intertrappean Beds Formations), Paleocene of Mali (Tamaguélelt Formation), Eocene of India (Cambay Shale & Khuiala Formation)
- S. texanus (Dames, 1883) - Late Cretaceous of Texas, US
- S. mosensis (Dames, 1883) - Campanian of Germany (Vaals Greensand) and Maastrichtian of Netherlands (Maastricht Formation)
The alleged species S. armatus (Gervais, 1852) from the middle Eocene of Belgium and S. vicentinus (Dames, 1883) from the Oligocene of Italy likely represent indeterminate tetraodontiform teeth.[7]
