Colin Patterson

The Contribution of Paleontology to Teleostean Phylogeny

I have been given a title concerning what Medawar (1967:23, 74) called ‘a comparatively humble and unexacting kind of science,’ research in ‘the parish registers of evolution.’ To avoid too much parochial detail, I will deal only with the phylogeny of the teleosts as a whole, without going into the different subgroups in any detail, and I shall emphasize generalities, using the teleosts as an example in a discussion of the role of phylogenetic paleontology. I shall try to assess paleontological methods, as practiced by workers on fossil teleosts, with the aim of identifying failures and successes, and of suggesting what contributions to phylogeny can and cannot be expected from paleontologists and their material. With these aims, my approach must be historical, and the main body of the paper is a historical review, with commentary. Since the teleosts are the first group for which a recognizable phylogenetic diagram was proposed (Agassiz, 1844), this review covers a longer period than most reviews of phylogenetic ideas. The review of nineteenth century work is fairly complete, but in the twentieth century, where the literature is more voluminous and well-known, I have cited only selected papers, particularly those containing phylogenetic diagrams, which summarize ideas more concisely than extended quotation.

Fossil fishes from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Namoura, Lebanon

Synopsis A new fish fauna is described from the middle Cenomanian of Namoura, Lebanon. Thirty species are described of which 13 are new. Six new genera are erected to contain seven of these new species. These new taxa include the teleosts Ctenodentelops striatus gen. et sp. nov. (Elopidae), Lebonichthys namourensis sp. nov. (Albulidae), Triplomystus noorae gen. et sp. nov. and Triplomys‐tus oligoscutatus gen. et sp. nov. (Paraclupeidae), Armigatus namourensis sp. nov. and Armigatus alticorpus sp. nov. (Clupeomorpha incertae sedis), Scombroclupea diminuta sp. nov. (Clupeiformes incertae sedis), Enchodus mecoanalis sp. nov. (Enchodontidae), Serrilepis prymnostrigos gen. et sp. nov. and Serrilepis minor gen. et sp. nov. (Halecidae), Paracentrus lebanonensis gen. et sp. nov. (Holocentroidea) and Gigapteryx lebanonensis gen. et sp. nov. (Euacanthopterygii incertae sedis). Two new species of the aspidorhynchid genus Belonostomus are recognised but left un‐named awaiting better material, as is one newspecies of pycnodont. Comparison of taxic composition of the faunas at Hakel, Hajula and Namoura suggests that at both species and generic level there is considerably more similarity between Hakel and Hajula than between either and Namoura. Furthermore, counts of actual specimens belonging to individual clades reveals a poverty of aulopiforms and myctophiforms at Namoura and may add to the evidence from non‐fish taxa that Namoura was much nearer to the contemporaneous land than was either Hakel or Hajula and may be of a slightly different age. Wider comparisons with other Cenomanian localities surrounding central Tethys suggest a phenetically closer relationship between Morocco, Lebanon and Slovenia than between any of these localities and Southeast England.

The Influence of Taxonomic Method on the Perception of Patterns of Evolution

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in patterns of evolution discerned in the fossil record through quantitative analysis of taxon duration and rates of origination or extinction. This approach was pioneered by Simpson’s (1952) study of vertebrate evolution, and was subsequently applied to the marine invertebrate fossil record by Valentine (1969). Those authors assumed that taxa could be treated as individual units of data, and equated taxonomic rank with morphological distinction. Patterns derived from the temporal distribution of taxa were interpreted as a direct reflection of morphological evolution and biological diversification.

Periodicity in Extinction: The Role of Systematics

The case for periodicity in extinction, with a mass extinction every 26 x 106 yr since the mid—Permian, rests on analyses of the fossil record of marine families and genera. We have checked the echinoderm and fish family extinctions which make up °20% of the data, and find that only 25% of our sample is signal (extinctions of monophyletic groups correctly dated to stage). The 75% noise component includes pseudoextinctions of non—monophyletic groups, and spurious data from other sources. The signal/noise ratio is virtually the same in echinoderms and fishes. Conspicuous peaks in our total family data correspond to five of the eight periodic extinction peaks that have been identified, but these five peaks are a feature of the noise component, not of the signal. We have also checked a randomly selected 20% of the generic extinctions in echinoderms and fishes since the Permian. The proportion of our data reflecting plausible extinctions is much lower among genera (31%) than among families (47%), whereas the p...

Chanoides, a marine Eocene otophysan fish (Teleostei: Ostariophysi)

ABSTRACT Chanoides is a monotypic genus from the marine Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy. It is the first fossil ostariophysan in which a Weberian apparatus is known in any detail. The Weberian apparatus of Chanoides includes a unique type of tripus, and is more generalized than that of Recent otophysans in several ways. Chanoides has other primitive features, unknown in otophysans, such as a basipterygoid process, a large supramaxilla, and a free second ural centrum. The jaws resemble those of Recent cypriniforms in having a median “kinethmoid,” and in having teeth confined to the fifth ceratobranchial. But the jaws of Chanoides are unique in other ways, and it is concluded that the kinethmoid is not homologous with that of cypriniforms. Chanoides is placed as the sister-group of all Recent otophysans (cypriniforms, characiforms, siluriforms). Comments on other generalized fossil otophysans are included.

An Eocene Amiid Fish from Mali, West Africa

An amiid fish of very large size (ca 3 m SL) from phosphates of probable early Eocene age in the Tilemsi Valley, Republic of Mali, is described as Maliamia gigas n. gen., n. sp. Maliamia is known only from isolated jaw bones (premaxilla, vomer, maxilla, dentary, dermopalatine, coronoid, prearticular), and is the first amiid to be described from Africa. It differs from other amiid genera in the vomerine and prearticular dentition, and so far as it and its relatives are known, is most closely related to Enneles from the early Cretaceous of Brazil.

Comments on basal teleosts and teleostean phylogeny, by Gloria Arratia.

For more than 20 years, Gloria Arratia has been a prolific contributor on Mesozoic fossil fishes and on the skeletal ontogeny and morphology of Recent teleosts. Often writing with her husband, Hans-Peter Schultze, she has produced (among much else) a notable series of papers on the caudal skeleton of Recent lower teleosts and on the palatoquadrate and urohyal (e.g., Arratia, 1991; Arratia and Schultze, 1991, 1992). Her most recent monograph (Arratia, 1997) covers Jurassic fossils representing eight genera (one of which is the Recent Elops), two of them new, and also describes the firstJurassic leptocephali or transforming leptocephali. As usual with Arratias work, the descriptions of fossils are as complete as the specimens allow, and the illustrations are excellent.

Family Chanidae and Other Teleostean Fishes as Living Fossils

This article is something of a fraud. I began work on it with the intention of showing that at least one Recent teleost, Chanos chanos (Forskal), deserved to be called a living fossil. In the end, I failed to convince myself. The article is an account of that failure, with comments on other potential living fossils among teleosts.

Fishes from the Akkuyu Formation (Tithonian),Western Taurus, Turkey

Abstract Two fragmentary fishes are described from theUpper Jurassic (Tithonian) Akkuyu Formation of the Akseki region in the western Taurus (Turkey). Both are determinable, one as a caudal fin of an ichthyodectiform teleost, either Thrissops or Allothrissops , the other as a coelacanthid coelacanth, cf. Undina . This discovery extends the geographic range of these taxa and draw attention to the possibility of collecting a more extensive fish fauna from the region.

Interrelationships of Fishes.

Preface. Teaching as Applied Behavior Analysis: A Professional Difference. The Learn Unit: A Natural Fracture of Teaching. The Repertoires of Teachers Who Are Behavior Analysts. The Strategic Analysis of Instruction and Learning. Teacher Repertoires for Students from Prelistener to Early Reader Status. Teaching Practices for Students with Advanced Repertoires of Verbal Behavior (Reader to Editor of Own Written Work). Behavioral Selection and the Content of Curriculum. Writing and Designing Curricula. Teaching and Mentoring Teachers. The School Psychologist and Other Supportive Personnel: A Contemporary Behavioral Perspective. Glossary. Index.