Obaichthyidae is an extinct family of ginglymodian ray-finned fish that lived in what is now Africa, South America, and southern Europe during the Cretaceous period (Aptian–Cenomanian ages). They were close relatives of the modern gars of the family Lepisosteidae, with the two groups making up the superfamily Lepisosteoidea.[1]
| Obaichthyidae Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Fossil of Obaichthys decoratus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Clade: | Ginglymodi |
| Order: | Lepisosteiformes |
| Superfamily: | Lepisosteoidea |
| Family: | †Obaichthyidae Grande, 2010 |
| Genera | |
They closely resembled gars, with one difference being their spiny scales, leading to the common name spiny gars.[2][3] They also differ from extant gars in their highly specialized jaws, with a mobile maxilla & a reduced lower jaw leading to a prominent overbite, teeth concentrated at the tip, and a very small gape, indicating that they likely fed on small invertebrates, in contrast to all lepisosteids which are adapted to feed on other vertebrates.[4]
Like modern gars, they appear to have preferred freshwater & brackish environments but were tolerant of marine conditions, allowing them to disperse across oceanic habitats. Both confirmed genera have respective species in both South America and Africa, with the African Obaichthys species also being known from southern Europe.[5]
The family was erected in 2010 by Lance Grande to include the genera Dentilepisosteus and Obaichthys.[2][6] In 2012, it was defined as a stem-based taxon containing all taxa more closely related to Obaichthys than to the genera Lepisosteus, Pliodetes or Lepidotes.[1] Afrocascudo, initially described as the earliest known armored catfish, might represent a juvenile obaichthyid, possibly a junior synonym of Obaichthys,[7] though this has been disputed based on the complete ossification of the bones indicating full maturity and the absence of important holostean characters.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b López-Arbarello, A. (2012). "Phylogenetic Interrelationships of Ginglymodian Fishes (Actinopterygii: Neopterygii)". PLOS ONE. 7 (7): e39370. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...739370L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039370. PMC 3394768. PMID 22808031.
- ^ a b Grande, Lance (2010). "An Empirical Synthetic Pattern Study of Gars (lepisosteiformes) and Closely Related Species, Based Mostly on Skeletal Anatomy. the Resurrection of Holostei". Copeia. 2010 (2A): iii–871. ISSN 0045-8511. JSTOR 20787269.
- ^ Cooper, Samuel L. A.; Gunn, James; Brito, Paulo M.; Zouhri, Samir; Martill, David M. (2023-11-01). "A new fully marine, short-snouted lepisosteid gar from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) of North Africa". Cretaceous Research. 151: 105650. Bibcode:2023CrRes.15105650C. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105650. ISSN 0195-6671. S2CID 259520870.
- ^ Cavin, Lionel; Boudad, Larbi; Tong, Haiyan; Läng, Emilie; Tabouelle, Jérôme; Vullo, Romain (2015-05-27). "Taxonomic Composition and Trophic Structure of the Continental Bony Fish Assemblage from the Early Late Cretaceous of Southeastern Morocco". PLOS ONE. 10 (5): e0125786. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1025786C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0125786. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4446216. PMID 26018561.
- ^ Pimentel, Ricardo; Barroso-Barcenilla, Fernando; Berrocal-Casero, Mélani; Callapez, Pedro Miguel; Ozkaya de Juanas, Senay; dos Santos, Vanda F. (2023). "On the Occurrence of the Gar Obaichthys africanus Grande in the Cretaceous of Portugal: Palaeoecological and Palaeobiogeographical Implications". Geosciences. 13 (12): 372. Bibcode:2023Geosc..13..372P. doi:10.3390/geosciences13120372. ISSN 2076-3263.
- ^ Brito, P. M.; Lindoso, R. M.; Carvalho, I. S.; de Paula Machado, G. (2016). "Discovery of †Obaichthyidae gars (Holostei, Ginglymodi, Lepisosteiformes) in the Aptian Codó Formation of the Parnaíba Basin: Remarks on paleobiogeographical and temporal range". Cretaceous Research. 59: 10–17. Bibcode:2016CrRes..59...10B. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.10.017.
- ^ Britz, R.; Pinion, Amanda K.; Kubicek, Kole M.; Conway, Kevin W. (2024). "Comment on "A Saharan fossil and the dawn of Neotropical armoured catfishes in Gondwana" by Brito et al". Gondwana Research. 133: 267–269. Bibcode:2024GondR.133..267B. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2024.06.014.
- ^ Brito, Paulo M.; Dutheil, Didier B.; Keith, Philippe; Carnevale, Giorgio; Meunier, François J.; Khalloufi, Bouziane; Gueriau, Pierre (2024). "A reply to a comment on Brito et al., 2024, A Saharan fossil and the dawn of the Neotropical armoured catfishes in Gondwana by Britz, Pinion, Kubicek and Conway". Gondwana Research. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2024.06.013.
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