Watsonulus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|252|250|Induan{{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 | access-date = 2009-02-27 }}}}

| image = Watsonulus eugnathoides.png

| image_caption = Watsonulus eugnathoides type

| genus = Watsonulus

| parent_authority = Brough, 1939

| species = eugnathoides

| authority = (Piveteau, 1934)

| synonyms =

• Watsonia Piveteau, 1934 (non Watsonia de Folin, 1880)

}}

Watsonulus is an extinct genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that lived during the Early Triassic epoch in what is now Madagascar.{{Cite journal|last=Olsen|first=P.E.|date=1984|title=The skull and pectoral girdle of the parasemionotid fish Watsonulus eugnathoides from the Early Triassic Sakamena Group of Madagascar, with comments on the relationships of the holostean fishes|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=4|issue=3|pages=481–499|doi=10.1080/02724634.1984.10012024|bibcode=1984JVPal...4..481O }}{{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 | access-date = 2009-02-27 }} It may have also existed in what is now Himachal Pradesh, India, during the Induan age (Early Triassic).{{Cite journal|last1=Romano |first1=Carlo |last2=Ware |first2=David |last3=Brühwiler |first3=Thomas |last4=Bucher |first4=Hugo |last5=Brinkmann |first5=Winand |year=2016 |title=Marine Early Triassic Osteichthyes from Spiti, Indian Himalayas |journal=Swiss Journal of Palaeontology |volume=135 |issue=2 |pages=275–294 |doi=10.1007/s13358-015-0098-6 |s2cid=129013905 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s13358-015-0098-6|url-access=subscription }}

The type species, described by Jean Piveteau, is Watsonia eugnathoides. Because "Watsonia" was preoccupied, the new genus name Watsonulus was later erected. The genus is named after David Meredith Seares Watson.