Xiphiorhynchus

Crushed skull fossil of Xiphiorhynchus

  • Europe
  • Egypt
  • USA
  • Peru ( Pisco Formation)

Xiphiorhynchus is an extinct genus of fish but durable from the family of swordfish ( Xiphiidae ). All that is known about Xiphiorhynchus, based on fragmented and poorly preserved fossils. Of the nine previously described species are known only by their six holotype, five only by a single fragment of a rostrum and a only a few vertebrae. Two holotype are now lost again (X. homalorhamphus and X. hungaricus ). Only of X. priscus is a known skull.

Features

Xiphiorhynchus had a sword -like Oberkieferrostrum that was in the cross-section round to oval and occupied on its underside with brush-shaped teeth. Inside of the rostrum, there were two pairs of longitudinal channels, of which the top closer to the center line of the rostrum was than the lower pair. The lower jaw is strong and the same length or shorter than the Oberkieferrostrum.

Way of life

Probably Xiphiorhynchus was a predator that inhabited the coastal regions of the tropical oceans. Some specimens of X. priscus and the holotype of X. kimblalocki, however, were found in deep-sea sediments.

Species

Nine types previously described. Moreover, even a tenth, previously undescribed species known ( cf. X. eocaenicus ( Woodward, 1901), United States).

  • X. aegypticus (Weiler, 1929), Egypt
  • X. elegans (van Beneden, 1871)
  • X. eocaenicus ( Woodward, 1901), England
  • X. priscus ( Agassiz, 1844), USA
  • X. homalorhamphus ( Cope, 1869)
  • X. kimblalocki ( Fierstine & Applegate, 1974), USA
  • X. rupeliensis ( Leriche, 1909), Belgium
  • X. hungaricus (Weiler, 1943), Hungary
  • X. rotundus ( Woodward, 1901), USA

System

Xiphiorhynchus is related to the recent swordfish close and is allocated within the family Xiphiidae the mono generic subfamily Xiphiorhynchinae.

Mya (unit) Charles Tate Regan Monotypic taxon
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