Berycopsis is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish from the Late Cretaceous period. Fossils are known from England, Germany, and Lebanon.[1][2] A potential specimen is known from the Czech Republic.[3]
| Berycopsis Temporal range:
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| Specimen of B. elegans at Oxford University Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Polymixiiformes |
| Family: | Polymixiidae |
| Genus: | †Berycopsis Agassiz in Dixon, 1850 |
| Type species | |
| †Berycopsis elegans Dixon, 1850
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| Species | |
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See text | |
It is generally placed among the beardfish in the family Polymixiidae. However, one 2009 study found it to be a more basal acanthomorph, and tentatively placed it as Beryciformes incertae sedis. However, later studies have continued to place it in the Polymixiidae.[4][5][6][7]
The following species are known:
- B. elegans Dixon, 1850 - Early Cenomanian to Turonian of the United Kingdom (Chalk Group)
- B. germanus (Agassiz, 1839) - Late Campanian of Germany (syn: Platycormus germanus Agassiz, 1839, B. oblongus von der Marck 1863)
- B. paucoradius Dietze, 2009 - Late Campanian of Germany
- B. pulcher Bannikov & Bacchia, 2005 - Late Cenomanian of Lebanon (Sannine Formation)
The species "B." lindstromi Davis, 1890 from the Danian-aged Kobenhavn Limestone of Limhamns kalkbrott, Sweden, is based on a generically indeterminate partial skeleton, and thus its taxonomic affiliation is uncertain.[8][9] The species Platycormus gibbosus von der Marck, 1885 may also belong to this genus, but the holotype has been lost and thus nothing about it is known. B. elegans and B. germanus may also be synonymous with each other, but not enough about the former's morphology to decide this.[4]
Berycopsis was about 35 centimetres (14 in) long and one of the earliest known members of the Acanthopterygii, the group that includes the present day barracuda, swordfish, seahorses, and flatfish. Like its modern relatives, the first fin rays in the dorsal and anal fins were modified into defensive spines, and the pelvic fins were located close to the pectoral fins. Berycopsis was one of the earliest fish known to have these features, which are widespread today.[2]
References
edit- ^ "PBDB". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
- ^ a b Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 41. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
- ^ Ekrt, Boris; Košt'ák, Martin; Mazuch, Martin; Voigt, Silke; Wiese, Frank (2008-08-01). "New records of teleosts from the Late Turonian (Late Cretaceous) of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin (Czech Republic)". Cretaceous Research. 29 (4): 659–673. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2008.01.013. ISSN 0195-6671.
- ^ a b Dietze, Kathrin (2009-06-01). "Morphology and phylogenetic relationships of certain neoteleostean fishes from the Upper Cretaceous of Sendenhorst, Germany". Cretaceous Research. 30 (3): 559–574. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2008.11.001. ISSN 0195-6671.
- ^ Murray, Alison M. (2014). "Mid-Cretaceous acanthomorph fishes with the description of a new species from the Turonian of Lac des Bois, Northwest Territories, Canada". Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology. 1: 101–115. doi:10.18435/B5CC78. ISSN 2292-1389.
- ^ Friedman, Matt; Beckett, Hermione T.; Close, Roger A.; Johanson, Zerina (2016). "The English Chalk and London Clay: two remarkable British bony fish Lagerstätten". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 430 (1): 165–200. doi:10.1144/SP430.18. ISSN 0305-8719.
- ^ Schrøder, Ane Elise; Rasmussen, Jan Audun; Møller, Peter Rask; Carnevale, Giorgio (2022-08-31). "A new beardfish (Teleostei, Polymixiiformes) from the Eocene Fur Formation, Denmark". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 42 (2). doi:10.1080/02724634.2022.2142914. hdl:10037/28645. ISSN 0272-4634.
- ^ Society, Royal Dublin (1890). The Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society. The Society.
- ^ Geology, British Museum (Natural History) Department of; Woodward, Arthur Smith (1901). Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History): Actinopterygian Teleostomi of the suborders Isospondyli (in part), Ostariophysi, Apodes, Percesoces, Hemibranchii, Acanthopterygii, and Anacanthini. order of the Trustees.
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