Eoholocentrum

{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|50|49|Early Eocene{{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/20110723131237/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |archivedate=2011-07-23 }}}}

| image = Eoholocentrum AMNH.jpg

| image_caption = E. macrocephalum fossil, American Museum of Natural History

| display_parents = 2

| taxon = Eoholocentrum macrocephalum

| parent_authority = Sorbini & Tirapelle, 1975

| authority = (de Blainville, 1818)

| synonyms = * Holocentrum macrocephalum de Blainville, 1818

}}

Eoholocentrum ("dawn Holocentrum") is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the early Eocene. It contains a single species, E. macrocephalum, known from the Early Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy.{{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/20110723131237/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |archivedate=2011-07-23 }}{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=35788 |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=paleobiodb.org}}{{Cite journal |last1=Carnevale |first1=G. |last2=Bannikov |first2=Alexandre F. |last3=Marramà |first3=G. |last4=Tyler |first4=James C. |last5=Zorzin. |first5=R. |date=2014 |title=The Bolca Fossil-Lagerstätte: A window into the Eocene World. 5. The Pesciara- Monte Postale Fossil-Lagerstätte: 2. Fishes and other vertebrates. Excursion guide |url=https://iris.unito.it/bitstream/2318/149338/1/Carnevale%20et%20al%202014%20The%20Pesciara%20F-L.%20Fishes%20and%20other%20vertebrates2.pdf |journal=Rendiconti della Società Paleontologica Italiana |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=i–xxvii |hdl=10088/25678}} It resembled and was closely related to modern squirrelfishes and soldierfishes, and appears to have been more closely related to squirrelfishes. It can be considered a basal or stem member of the Holocentrinae.{{Cite journal |last=Andrews |first=James V. |last2=Schein |first2=Jason P. |last3=Friedman |first3=Matt |date=2023-01-01 |title=An earliest Paleocene squirrelfish (Teleostei: Beryciformes: Holocentroidea) and its bearing on the timescale of holocentroid evolution |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14772019.2023.2168571 |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |volume=21 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/14772019.2023.2168571 |issn=1477-2019|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Dornburg |first=Alex |last2=Moore |first2=Jon |last3=Beaulieu |first3=Jeremy M. |last4=Eytan |first4=Ron I. |last5=Near |first5=Thomas J. |date=2015-01-01 |title=The impact of shifts in marine biodiversity hotspots on patterns of range evolution: Evidence from the Holocentridae (squirrelfishes and soldierfishes) |url=https://academic.oup.com/evolut/article-abstract/69/1/146/6851928 |journal=Evolution |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=146–161 |doi=10.1111/evo.12562 |issn=0014-3820}}

It was originally erroneously named by Volta (1796) as a fossil specimen of "Holocentrus sogo" (a synonym for Holocentrus adscensionis) and then as a specimen of "Chaetodon saxatilis" (a synonym for Abudefduf saxatilis). It was described as its own species in Holocentrus by de Blainville (1818){{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}} before being placed in its own genus in 1975.