Priscacara
{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Priscacara serrata FMNH PF13014 img1.jpg
| image_caption = Priscacara serrata
| fossil_range = Eocene
| taxon = Priscacara
| authority = Cope, 1877
| subdivision =
- P. aquilonia {{small|Wilson, 1977}}
- P. campi {{small|Hesse, 1936}}
- P. serrata {{small|Cope, 1877}}
}}
File:Cockerellites liops 18" layer img1.jpg]]
Priscacara, is a genus of extinct temperate bass described from Early to Middle Eocene fossils. It is characterized by a sunfish-like body and its stout dorsal and anal spines. The genus is best known from the Green River Formation of Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. Mass deaths of Priscacara suggest it formed schools.
History and classification
The type species of Priscacara is P. serrata, described from the holotype specimen, AMNH 2442.{{cite journal |last1=Cope |first1=E. D. |year=1877 |title=A contribution to the knowledge of the ichthyological fauna of the Green River shales |journal=Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=807–819}} Two species are described from northwestern North America. Hesse (1936) described Priscacara campi from a single complete fossil found in the Middle Eocene Roslyn Formation of central Washington.{{cite journal |last1=Hesse |first1=C. |year=1936 |title=A New Species of the Genus Priscacara from the Eocene of Washington |journal=The Journal of Geology |volume=44 |issue=6 |pages=745–750|doi=10.1086/624475 |bibcode=1936JG.....44..745H |s2cid=128981698 }} A third species, Priscacara aquilonia was described by Wilson (1977) from the Early Eocene "Horsefly shale" of British Columbia.{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=M. V. |year=1977 |title=Middle Eocene freshwater fishes from British Columbia |journal=Life Sciences Contributions, Royal Ontario Museum |volume=113 |pages=1–66}}
A phylogenetic review of Priscacara by Whitock (2010) recognized only two species, P. serrata and P. liops.{{cite journal |last1=Whitlock |first1=J. A. |year=2010 |title=Phylogenetic relationships of the Eocene percomorph fishes Priscacara and Mioplosus |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=30 |pages=1037–1048|doi=10.1080/02724634.2010.483534 |s2cid=86061795 }}
Cockerellites liops, holotype USNM 4044{{cite journal |last1=Cope |first1=E. D. |year=1884 |title=The vertebrata of the Tertiary formations of the West. |journal=Report of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories |volume=3 |pages=1–1009}} had been placed in Priscacara as P. liops but is now considered a separate genus.{{cite book |title= The Lost World of Fossil Lake: Snapshots from Deep Time |author=Grande, L. |date=14 June 2013 |publisher=University of Chicago Press; Illustrated edition |isbn=9780226922966 |page=169}}
C. liops is the most common species of Priscacara within the Green River lacustrine deposits and at certain locations it outnumbers P. serrata by over 3:1. The two species differ in the number of dorsal and anal fin rays, as well as possibly a coarser serrated rear edge of the preopercle in P. serrata. C. liops also has small conical teeth on the pharyngeal jaw, whereas P. serrata has large grinding toothplates, suggesting a diet of snails and crustaceans.{{cite journal |last1=Grande |first1=L. |year=1984 |title=Paleontology of the Green River Formation, with a review of the fish fauna. |journal=Geological Survey of Wyoming Bulletin |volume=63 |pages=1–333}}
Distribution
Priscacara fossils are commonly preserved in the Fossil Lake deposits of Eocene age in westernmost Wyoming, but are rare in the coeval Lake Gossiute sediments of Wyoming and the Lake Uinta deposits of Utah and Colorado. The genus also occurs in the middle Eocene lake deposits of Washington and British Columbia.
References
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{{Taxonbar|from=Q148522}}
Category:Cenozoic fish of North America
Category:Green River Formation
Category:Prehistoric percomorph genera
Category:Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope
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