Platinx
Extinct genus of ray-finned fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Platinx is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish that inhabited the northern Tethys Ocean during the early to middle Eocene.[1] It was the last surviving member of the ancient order Crossognathiformes, which was a dominant and successful group throughout the preceding Mesozoic era.[2][3]
| Platinx Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Specimen from Monte Bolca | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | †Crossognathiformes |
| Family: | †Pachyrhizodontidae |
| Genus: | †Platinx Agassiz, 1835 |
| Species: | †P. macropterus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Platinx macropterus (de Blainville, 1818) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
It contains a single species, P. macropterus, whose remains are primarily known from the late Ypresian-aged rocks of Monte Bolca, Italy.[4] However, specimens have also been recovered from the earliest-Ypresian Danata Formation of Turkmenistan (sometimes placed in their own distinct species, P. cognitus Daniltshenko, 1968, although these do not appear to be distinct enough from P. macropterus),[3] as well as incomplete remains from the middle Eocene of Syria.[5]
The extinct bonytongues Monopteros and Thrissopterus, which co-occur with Platinx in Monte Bolca, were for a time briefly reclassified as a species of Platinx (P. gigas), although they are now known to be distinct.[3][6]
