Coccodus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|95|93.5|Upper Cenomanian{{cite journal|last=Sepkoski |first=Jack |title=A compendium of fossil marine animal genera |journal=Bulletins of American Paleontology |volume=364 |page=560 |year=2002 |url=http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |accessdate=2009-02-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220223520/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |archivedate=2009-02-20 }}}}

| image = Coccodus insignis.JPG

| image_caption = Coccodus insignis

| taxon = Coccodus

| authority = Pictet, 1850

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = * †C. armatus Pictet, 1850

  • C. insignis Hay, 1903

}}

Coccodus is an extinct genus of marine pycnodontid fish that lived during the Late Cretaceous. The various species had a pair of massive, curved spines emanating from the lower sides of the head, and one curved spine on the top of its head. Unlike most pycnodontids (which tend to have short, marine butterflyfish-like bodies), Coccodus species had a comparatively long body, giving the living animals a superficial resemblance to a scaly chimaera.

Coccodus is closely related to the similarly spined genera Trewavasia, Corusichthys, Paracoccodus, and Hensodon, which also lived during the Cenomanian of Lebanon.

Taxonomy

Two species are known, both from the Cenomanian-aged Sannine Formation of Lebanon:{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=35172 |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=paleobiodb.org}}

  • C. armatus Pictet, 1850 - Hakel locality of Sannine Formation
  • C. insignis Hay, 1903 - Hjoula locality of Sannine Formation

The species Coccodus lindstroemi was recently determined to be a species complex, and various specimens assigned to C. lindstroemi were redescribed as species of the gladiopycnodontid genus JoinivillichthysTaverne, Louis, and Luigi Capasso. "On the “Coccodus” lindstroemi species complex (Pycnodontiformes, Gladiopycnodontidae) from the marine Late Cretaceous of Lebanon, with the description of two new genera." European Journal of Taxonomy 101 (2014).

See also

{{Portal|Paleontology|Fish}}

References