New actinopterygian fish from the Namurian Manse Burn Formation of Bearsden, Scotland
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Four new species of actinopterygians are described from the Manse Burn Formation (Namurian) of Bearsden, Glasgow, Scotland. Two fusiform species are members of, and a third is questionably assigned to, Mesopoma: M. carricki, M. ?smithsoni, and M. pancheni. A new gibbose species is assigned to a new genus, Frederichthys musadentatus. Mesopoma is reviewed and rediagnosed, and its relationships to Frederichthys are examined with regard to a recent analysis of early actinopterygian (palaeoniscid) phylogeny; Mesopoma is a member of a probably paraphyletic group within a polytomous stem-group actinopteran radiation. An alternative phylogeny places Mesopoma on the common stem-group of the Haplolepidae, Aeduellidae, and Redfieldiformes. Frederichthys is closely related to the platysomids. Otoliths preserved within the mesopomid material are described and compared with those of other osteichthyans; the presence of three pairs of otoliths as a teleostome characteristic is questioned.
Palaeontology - Volume 36 Part 1 Pages 123-146Palaeontology - Volume 36 Part 1 Pages 123-146
Citations
COATES, M. I. 1993. New actinopterygian fish from the Namurian Manse Burn Formation of Bearsden, Scotland. Palaeontology, 36, 1, 123–146.