REDESCRIPTION AND PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF ARGYROPELECUS LOGEARTI (TELEOSTEI: STOMIIFORMES: STERNOPTYCHIDAE),WITH A BRIEF REVIEW OF FOSSIL ARGYROPELECUS

Argyropelecus logearti Arambourg, 1929 is redescribed in detail based on new material. The material consists of many unreported specimens from type and other localities. Based on new information presented here Argyropelecus logearti is interpreted to be most closely related to the extant species Argyropelecus hemigymnus. Argyropelecus logearti provides an early fossil that can be placed in the phylogenetic context of living Argyropelecus species. Argyropelecus has a fossil record ranging from Oligocene to Pleistocene. Fossil representatives of this genus are listed here for future reference.&nbsp

A reappraisal of the Italian record of the Cretaceous pachycormid fish Protosphyraena Leidy, 1857

The genus Protosphyraena is known mainly from partial remains, consisting of isolated blade-like teeth, conical rostra and scythe-like pectoral fins. This paper provides a new insight into partial specimens of the genus Protosphyraena from the Cretaceous of NE Italy, housed in historical collections from local paleontological museums and previously poorly known to the international scientific community. The specimens are referred to the species Protosphyraena ferox, based on the morphology of the pectoral fin. This attribution is consistent with the paleobiogeographic distribution and stratigraphic range of this taxon. The Italian material provides new information about the distribution in time and space of Protosphyraena, which is relatively poorly known despite being an iconic taxon. The Italian remains, although fragmentary, contribute to fill a gap in the central Tethys record of the genus, whose range probably extended worldwide, considering also the genus Australopachycormus and its profound (possibly congeneric) similarities

Eocene round herring from Monte Bolca, Italy

Fishes of the subfamily Dussumieriinae, also known as round herrings, are a small subgroup of the family Clupeidae inhabiting tropical and subtropical marine coastal waters. A new genus and species of round herring, Trollichthys bol-censis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the lower Eocene micritic limestone of Monte Bolca, northern Italy. This new clupeid taxon is based on seven partially complete articulated skeletons that exhibit a unique combination of features, including: two supramaxillae, edentulous jaw and palate bones, 41–42 preural vertebrae and 22–24 pleural ribs, pleural ribs-preural vertebrae ratio ranging 0.52–0.57, five or six supraneural bones, dorsal-fin origin located at about mid-length of the body, dorsal fin with about 16 rays, two postcleithra, pelvic-fin insertion slightly behind the dorsal-fin origin, and pelvic fin with eight rays. Trollichthys bolcensis shares several features with the extant round herring genus Spratelloi-des. However, because of its unique combination of features, Trollichthys bolcensis cannot be confidently assigned to any of the extant dussumieriine lineages and present evidence does not favour any particular sister-group relationship