Eoplectus

{{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 = Eoplectus bloti.jpg

| image_caption = Fossil specimen, Museo di Storia Naturale Verona

| parent_authority = Tyler, 1973

| taxon = Eoplectus bloti

| authority = Tyler, 1973

}}

Eoplectus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine tetraodontiform fish that lived during the Eocene. It contains a single species, E. bloti from the Early Eocene-aged Monte Bolca site of Italy.{{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 is the only member of the family Eoplectidae.{{Cite journal |last=Laan |first=Richard Van Der |date=2018-10-11 |title=Family-group names of fossil fishes |url=https://zenodo.org/records/5557557 |journal=European Journal of Taxonomy |volume=466 |pages=1–167 |doi=10.5852/ejt.2018.466}} It closely resembled pufferfishes and porcupinefishes, which it was related to.

It displays some unique morphological traits among tetraodontiforms, that support it being a basal member of the Tetraodontoidei.{{Cite journal |last=Bannikov |first=Alexandre F. |last2=Tyler |first2=James C. |last3=Arcila |first3=Dahiana |last4=Carnevale |first4=Giorgio |date=2017-02-01 |title=A new family of gymnodont fish (Tetraodontiformes) from the earliest Eocene of the Peri-Tethys (Kabardino-Balkaria, northern Caucasus, Russia) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14772019.2016.1149115 |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |volume=2 |doi=10.1080/14772019.2016.1149115 |issn=1477-2019}}{{Cite journal |last=Close |first=Roger A. |last2=Johanson |first2=Zerina |last3=Tyler |first3=James C. |last4=Harrington |first4=Richard C. |last5=Friedman |first5=Matt |date=2016 |title=Mosaicism in a new Eocene pufferfish highlights rapid morphological innovation near the origin of crown tetraodontiforms |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pala.12245 |journal=Palaeontology |language=en |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=499–514 |doi=10.1111/pala.12245 |issn=1475-4983|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |author=Franceso Santini |author2=James C. Tyler |year=2003 |title=A phylogeny of the families of fossil and extant tetraodontiform fishes (Acanthomorpha, Tetraodontiformes), Upper Cretaceous to Recent |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=139 |issue=4 |pages=565–617 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2003.00088.x}}