Apateodus

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|105.3|66|Late Albian - Maastrichtian}}

| image = Apateodus corneti Naturalis.JPG

| image_caption = Lower jaw fragment of A. corneti

| taxon = Apateodus

| authority = Woodward, 1901

| type_species = {{extinct}}Pachyrhizodus glyphodus

| type_species_authority = Blake, 1863

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

}}

Apateodus (meaning "confusing tooth") is a genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish which was described by Woodward in 1901. It was a relative of modern lizardfish and lancetfish in the order Aulopiformes, and one of a number of prominent nektonic aulopiforms of Cretaceous marine ecosystems.{{Cite web |title=PBDB |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=35555 |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=paleobiodb.org}}{{Cite journal |last1=Newbrey |first1=Michael G. |last2=Konishi |first2=Takuya |date=2015-05-04 |title=A new lizardfish (Teleostei, Aulopiformes) from the Late Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation of Alberta, Canada, with a revised diagnosis of Apateodus (Aulopiformes, Ichthyotringoidei) |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2014.918042 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=e918042 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2014.918042 |bibcode=2015JVPal..35E8042N |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

The genus spans from the Albian to the late Maastrichtian, and appears to have been distributed worldwide; specimens have been found in Russia, India, the United States (Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas), Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Taxonomy

Apateodus has generally been placed in the suborder Enchodontoidei alongside most other Cretaceous nektonic aulopiforms, although its affinities have long been uncertain. However, since the 2000s, it has generally been placed in the family Ichthyotringidae.{{Cite journal |last1=Silva |first1=Hilda M. A. |last2=Gallo |first2=Valéria |date=June 2011|title=Taxonomic review and phylogenetic analysis of Enchodontoidei (Teleostei: Aulopiformes) |url=https://www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/vPvQZ4v493QvhCLL9wh9zDb/?lang=en |journal=Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências |language=en |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=483–511 |doi=10.1590/S0001-37652011000200010 |pmid=21670874 |issn=0001-3765}}{{Cite journal |last1=Fielitz |first1=Christopher |last2=Shimada |first2=Kenshu |date=2009-09-12 |title=A new species of Apateodus (Teleostei: Aulopiformes) from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk of Western Kansas, U.S.A. |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1671/039.029.0308 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=650–658 |doi=10.1671/039.029.0308 |bibcode=2009JVPal..29..650F |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }} However, some authors have still placed it as an indeterminate enchodontoid, ichthyotringoid, alepisauroid, or even elsewhere in the Aulopiformes as the sister to the barracudinas, the latter two of which have been contradicted by anatomical studies.{{cite journal |last1=Near |first1=Thomas J |last2=Thacker |first2=Christine E |date=18 April 2024 |title=Phylogenetic classification of living and fossil ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) |journal=Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History |volume=65 |doi=10.3374/014.065.0101 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite web |last=Chida |first=Mori |date=Fall 2022 |title=A new species of dercetid and the assessment of the phylogeny of the Enchodontoidei (Teleostei: Aulopiformes) |url=https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/17b5d63d-cd83-45a3-a19a-8de2a5074903 |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=ERA |doi=10.7939/r3-nqmz-nf15 |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=Schwarzhans |first1=Werner |last2=Beckett |first2=Hermione T. |last3=Schein |first3=Jason D. |last4=Friedman |first4=Matt |date=2018 |editor-last=Rahman |editor-first=Imran |title=Computed tomography scanning as a tool for linking the skeletal and otolith-based fossil records of teleost fishes |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.12349 |journal=Palaeontology |language=en |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=511–541 |doi=10.1111/pala.12349 |bibcode=2018Palgy..61..511S |issn=0031-0239|hdl=2027.42/144669 |hdl-access=free }}

The following species are known:

†?A. assisi Schwarzans, Huddlestone & Takeuchi, 2018 - Santonian of Alabama, USA (Eutaw Formation) [otolith]{{Cite journal |last1=SCHWARZHANS |first1=WERNER W. |last2=HUDDLESTON |first2=RICHARD W. |last3=TAKEUCHI |first3=GARY T. |date=2018-01-22 |title=A LATE SANTONIAN FISH-FAUNA FROM THE EUTAW FORMATION OF ALABAMA RECONSTRUCTED FROM OTOLITHS |url=https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/9624 |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia (Research in Paleontology and Stratigraphy) |language=en |volume=124 |pages=N. 1 (2018) |doi=10.13130/2039-4942/9624}}
†A. busseni Franz & Shimada, 2009 - Coniacian of Kansas, USA (Smoky Hill Chalk)
†A. corneti (Forir, 1887) - Maastrichtian of the Netherlands (Maastricht Formation)
†A. crenellatus Schwarzans & Stringer, 2020 - Maastrichtian of Mississippi, USA [otolith] (Owl Creek Formation){{Cite journal |last1=Stringer |first1=Gary L. |last2=Schwarzhans |first2=Werner |last3=Phillips |first3=George |last4=Lambert |first4=Roger |date=2020-02-05 |title=HIGHLY DIVERSIFIED LATE CRETACEOUS FISH ASSEMBLAGE REVEALED BY OTOLITHS (RIPLEY FORMATION AND OWL CREEK FORMATION, NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI, USA) |url=https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/13013 |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia |language=en |volume=126 |issue=1 |doi=10.13130/2039-4942/13013 |issn=2039-4942}}
†A. glyphodus (Blake, 1863) (type species) - Albian of the United Kingdom (Folkestone Formation){{Cite book |last=Geology |first=British Museum (Natural History) Department of |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Catalogue_of_the_Fossil_Fishes_in_the_Br/ZtEKAQAAIAAJ? |title=Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History): Actinopterygian Teleostomi of the suborders Isospondyli (in part), Ostariophysi, Apodes, Percesoces, Hemibranchii, Acanthopterygii, and Anacanthini |last2=Woodward |first2=Arthur Smith |date=1901 |publisher=order of the Trustees |language=en}}
†A. lanceolatus Woodward, 1901 - Cenomanian of the United Kingdom (English Chalk)
†A. striatus Woodward, 1901 - Cenomanian of the United Kingdom (English Chalk), Cenomanian-Turonian of Germany (Hesseltal Formation),{{Cite journal |last1=Amalfitano |first1=Jacopo |last2=Giusberti |first2=Luca |last3=Fornaciari |first3=Eliana |last4=Carnevale |first4=Giorgio |date=2020-04-03 |title=UPPER CENOMANIAN FISHES FROM THE BONARELLI LEVEL (OAE2) OF NORTHEASTERN ITALY |url=https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/13224 |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia |language=en |volume=126 |issue=2 |doi=10.13130/2039-4942/13224 |issn=2039-4942}} Maastrichtian of India (Intertrappean Beds)

Indeterminate remains are known from the Turonian of Canada (Kaskapau Formation of Alberta), the Albian of Russia (Belgorod), and the Cenomanian to Santonian of the United States (Greenhorn Limestone of Colorado & Iowa, Carlile Shale of Kansas, and the Niobrara Formation of South Dakota). A potential undescribed genus closely allied to Apateodus was identified in 2020 from fossils from Kansas.{{Cite journal |last1=Fielitz |first1=Christopher |last2=Shimada |first2=Kenshu |date=2020 |title=A Possible Undescribed Aulopiform Fish Allied to the Genus Apateodus from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk of Kansas, U.S.A. |url=https://bioone.org/journals/transactions-of-the-kansas-academy-of-science/volume-123/issue-3-4/062.123.0313/A-Possible-Undescribed-Aulopiform-Fish-Allied-to-the-Genus-Apateodus/10.1660/062.123.0313.full |journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science |volume=123 |issue=3–4 |pages=435–440 |doi=10.1660/062.123.0313 |issn=0022-8443|url-access=subscription }}

Description

Known by well preserved skull remains, Apateodus is estimated to be around 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length, and would have been an effective mesopredator.