A partial rostrum with an attached lower jaw, a posterior neurocranium, and a proximal hyomandibular from the Lincoln Creek Formation (late Oligocene, Washington) are described and identified as Aglyptorhynchus columbianus sp. nov. In addition, ten articulated anterior caudal vertebrae presumably from the Lincoln Creek Formation are described and identified as Aglyptorhynchus sp. This is a second record of an Aglyptorhynchus from a deposit bordering the Pacific Ocean. The specimens are compared with other billfishes (Perciformes: Scombroidei), both extant and extinct. Unusual features include a tripartite celous occipital condyle composed equally of the basioccipital and exoccipitals, a lower jaw that is nearly twice as deep as the corresponding section of the rostrum, a subtemporal fossa, an oval-shaped fossa in the parasphenoid, two sphenotic ridges separated by a fossa, a bifurcated pterotic ridge, and a hyomandibular with a laterally curved posterior margin. With the exception of the deep lower jaw, these features have never been recorded before in extinct or extant scombroid fish. Heretofore, a tripartite occipital condyle was unknown in a non-beryciform percomorph fish. Aglyptorhynchus is placed in the Scombroidei, family incertae sedis, because of the paucity of shared characters with other scombroid taxa.
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1 June 2005
A NEW AGLYPTORHYNCHUS (PERCIFORMES: SCOMBROIDEI) FROM THE LINCOLN CREEK FORMATION (LATE OLIGOCENE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A)
HARRY L. FIERSTINE
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Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
Vol. 25 • No. 2
June 2005
Vol. 25 • No. 2
June 2005