Pseudoasthenocormus
Pseudoasthenocormus is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish from the family Pachycormidae in the order Pachycormiformes with one species, P. retrodorsalis. Fossils were found in Germany. It lived during the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian). The name comes from Asthenocormus, and the epithet is after the Greek for rear fin. Pseudoasthenocormus resembled an ichthyodectiform in appearance, but it was not related to them. It was also large in size. It had a robust and compact body that was more slender than Asthenocormus. The dorsal fin is set far back. It is much shorter than the latter.
The first fossils of this animal, found in the Solnhofen deposit, were described in 1914 by Eastman, who made the species another species of Asthenocormus. Only in 1999 did Lambers redescribe the species. That taxon was then attributed to the new genus Pseudoasthenocormus.
References
- Lambers, P. H. (1999). The actinopterygian fish fauna of the Late Kimmeridgian and Early Tithonian 'Plattenkalke' near Solnhofen (Bavaria, Germany): state of the art. Geologie en Mijnbouw 78:215-229.
- Eastman, C. R. (1914). Catalog of the fossil fishes in the Carnegie Museum. Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum. Vol. VI. No. 7.
- "Clupeopsis and Pseudoasthenocormus". Reptile Evolution.