Stomach contents of the Early Jurassic fish †Lepidotes Agassiz, 1832 (Actinopterygii, Lepisosteiformes) and their palaeoecological implications

Autor(en)
Detlev Thies, Kevin Stevens, Sebastian Stumpf
Abstrakt

Ginglymodian fishes formed one of the most dominant actinopterygian lineages during the Mesozoic, occurring in fully marine to freshwater depositional environments. However, although commonly preserved in Mesozoic strata around the world, there is little information on the feeding ecology of these fishes, which is mainly due to the scarcity of direct evidence of diet. Here we report two specimens of the ginglymodian fish †Lepidotes (Lepisosteiformes) from the Lower Jurassic of Germany that exhibit gastric contents consisting of small crustacean cuticle fragments indicative of shrimp-like taxa. The dentition of †Lepidotes, which is well adapted to such a diet, combined with its robust body shape and the position and shape of its fins, suggests that other potential food of the Early Jurassic †Lepidotes may have included moderately elusive, relatively soft-shelled or unprotected, free-living invertebrates.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Paläontologie
Externe Organisation(en)
Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover
Journal
Historical Biology
Band
33
Seiten
868-879
Anzahl der Seiten
12
ISSN
0891-2963
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2019.1665040
Publikationsdatum
09-2019
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
105118 Paläontologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Allgemeine Agrar- und Biowissenschaften
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 14 – Leben unter Wasser
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/6d0b96e3-4308-4310-8e0f-0444a26bfd8e