Belonostomus

Belonostomus
Temporal range: Bathonian–Maastrichtian Possible Paleocene record
Belonostomus kochii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: †Aspidorhynchiformes
Family: †Aspidorhynchidae
Genus: †Belonostomus
Agassiz, 1834
Type species
†Aspidorhynchus tenuirostris
Agassiz, 1833
Species

30+, see text

Synonyms

Diphyodus

Belonostomus (from Greek: βέλος belos, 'dart' and Greek: στόμα stóma 'mouth')[1] is a genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that was described by Louis Agassiz in 1844. It is a member of the order Aspidorhynchiformes, a group of fish known for their distinctive elongated rostrums.[2]

Fossils of Belonostomus have been found worldwide in marine deposits, although some species are known from freshwater habitats.[3] The oldest known species are from the Upper Jurassic of Germany and England, with the youngest known species from the late Maastrichtian. One specimen has been recovered from the late Paleocene of North Dakota, which would suggest that this genus was the only aspidorhynchean to survive into the Cenozoic, although it is possible this fossil may have been reworked from earlier formations.[3][4]

It likely consumed plankton or other small fish,[5] though one specimen from the Late Jurassic of Germany was found with the rhynchocephalian Homoeosaurus as stomach contents.[6]

  1. ^ Roberts, George (1839). An etymological and explanatory dictionary of the terms and language of geology. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans. p. 19. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  2. ^ "PBDB". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  3. ^ a b Bryant, Laurie J. (1987). "Belonostomus (Teleostei: Aspidorhynchidae) from the Late Paleocene of North Dakota" (PDF). PaleoBios. 43. Museum of Paleontology, University of California Berkeley.
  4. ^ Agnolin, Federico. "Description of a new aspidorhynchid fish, Belonostomus lamarquensis sp. nov. (Halecostomi, Aspidorhynchiformes), from the continental Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina". Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belqique, Sciences de la Terre.
  5. ^ Van Vranken, Nathan; Fielitz, Christopher; Ebersole, Jun (2019). "New occurrences of Belonostomus (Teleostomorpha: Aspidorhynchidae) from the Late Cretaceous of the North American Gulf Coastal Plain, USA". Palaeontologia Electronica. 22 (3): 1–11. doi:10.26879/983. ISSN 1935-3952. S2CID 204264731.
  6. ^ Frey, Eberhard; Tischlinger, Helmut (2012-03-07). Fenton, Brock (ed.). "The Late Jurassic Pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus, a Frequent Victim of the Ganoid Fish Aspidorhynchus?". PLOS ONE. 7 (3): e31945. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...731945F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031945. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3296705. PMID 22412850.