Pholidophorus

The type species Pholidophorus Bechei from the Black Jura in the primeval world Hauff Museum in wood grubs.

• Europe

Pholidophorus is an extinct genus of bony fish. They lived on the Upper Triassic to Jurassic. Fossils were, inter alia, found in Europe and North America. The genus in 1832 by the American naturalist Louis Agassiz placed on detected in Seefeld in Tirol two Triassic types of fish ( Pholidophorus latiusculus and Pholidophorus pusillus)

Features

Louis Agassiz was in his first description of the genus only general features, like a herring -like appearance, an elongated or spindle-shaped body, large diamond-shaped scales, a tail fin with two almost equal praise. The squamation extended to the upper lobe. The small dorsal fin was the pelvic fins opposite. The anal fin was very small. Also, later descriptions by Agassiz and other scientists mentioned only features that are prevalent in the Neopterygii and repeat the diagnostic features of the order Pholidophoriformes and Pholidophoridae family usually. Because of this lack of diagnostic species of fish from the Upper Triassic to Cretaceous were assigned from around the world of the genus. The Swedish zoologist Orvar Nybelin restricted the genus eventually on four types of scales that had a manner of Lepisosteus. The scales were rhombic ( rhomboidal ) and slightly increased, and higher than long, and had a smooth rear edge and fine lines in the vicinity of the trailing edge. The ventral scales were small, slightly oval and had one to three projections on the posterior margin. The caudal fin was deeply forked. The eye sockets were relatively large, the maxillary dentate weak.

• Fins formula: Dorsal 11-12, Anal 9-10, 18-19 pectoral, ventral 7-8, caudal 24-26.

Species with other scales were assigned to other genera, such as Ankylophorus, Pholidophoroides and Pholidophoristion for species with scales from Lepisosteus type but with ornamented surface and strongly serrated posterior margin, Eurycormus for species with scales from Amia type and Pholidophoropsis for species with roundhouse.

Species

Nybelin recognized in his revision of only four ways:

• Pholidophorus Bechei
• Pholidophorus caffii
• Pholidophorus latiusculus
• Pholidophorus pusillus

Because of the little accurate diagnosis of the genus of the genus numerous other species, however, were assigned from the Upper Triassic to the Cretaceous.