Eosaurichthys

{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|254.14|251.2|Changhsingian to Olenekian{{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=2009-04-24 |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 }}}}

| taxon = Eosaurichthys

| authority = Liu & Wei, 1988

| type_species = Eosaurichthys chaoi

| type_species_authority = Liu & Wei, 1988

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = * {{extinct}}E. chaoi Liu & Wei, 1988

• {{extinct}}E. madagascariensis (Piveteau, 1945)

}}

Eosaurichthys ("dawn Saurichthys") is an extinct genus, or potentially subgenus, of marine saurichthyid ray-finned fish that lived during the late Permian epoch (Changhsingian age) to potentially the Early Triassic epoch (Olenekian).{{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=2009-04-24 |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 }} It is one of the earliest saurichthyid genera known from the fossil record. If E. madagascariensis is a member of this genus, then it appears to have survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event.

Eosaurichthys is often treated as a subgenus of Saurichthys rather than a genus, with its type species referred to as Saurichthys (Eosaurichthys) chaoi.{{cite journal |last=Tintori |first=Andrea |year=2013 |title=A new species of Saurichthys (Actinopterygii) from the Middle Triassic (early Ladinian) of the northern Grigna Mountain (Lombardy, Italy) |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=287–302 |doi=10.13130/2039-4942/6041 |doi-access=free}}

Up to two species are known:{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=35083 |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=paleobiodb.org}}

• E. chaoi Liu & Wei, 1988 - Late Permian (Changhsingian) of China (Changxing Formation)
• E. madagascariensis (Piveteau, 1945) - Early Triassic (Olenekian) of Madagascar (Sakamena Formation){{Cite journal |author1=Maxwell, E.E. |author2=Romano, C. |author3=Wu, F.-X. |name-list-style=amp |year=2021 |title=Regional disparity in the axial skeleton of Saurichthyidae and implications for axial regionalization in non‐teleostean actinopterygians. |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=315 |pages=29–41 |doi=10.1111/jzo.12878 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |author1=Silvio Renesto |author2=Fabio Magnani |author3=Rudolf Stockar |year=2021 |title=A new species of Saurichthys (Actinopterygii: Saurichtydae) from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio |url=https://doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/15143 |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia |volume=127 |issue=1 |pages=49–71 |doi=10.13130/2039-4942/15143 |doi-access=free}}

Saurichthyid remains tentatively referred to E. madagascariensis are known from Anisian-aged freshwater beds of the Yerrapalli Formation in India.