A new Palaeocene Megalopidae (Teleostei,Elopomorpha) from the phosphate basins of Morocco |
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| Authors: | Bouziane Khalloufi Khadija El Houssaini Darif Essaid Jourani Fatima Khaldoune Nour-Eddine Jalil |
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| Institution: | 1. Laboratoire Informatique et Systématique, UMR 7205, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, Francekhalloufi@mnhn.frkhalloufi.bouziane@hotmail.fr;4. Laboratory ??Biodiversity and Dynamic of Ecosystems??, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco;5. OCP Group SA, Khouribga, Morocco;6. Centre de recherche sur la paléobiodiversité et les paléoenvironnements, UMR 7207, Sorbonne Université, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France |
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| Abstract: | AbstractA new Megalopidae (Teleostei, Elopomorpha, Elopiformes), Protarpon boualii sp. nov., is described on the basis of two neurocrania gathered from the Lower Palaeocene (Danian) beds of the Oulad Abdoun basin, in Morocco. Its inclusion in the family Megalopidae and the genus Protarpon is supported by the L-shaped pterotics, the flat skull roof, the well developed epiotic processes and the roofed dilatator fossae. It differs from Protarpon priscus and P. oblongus from the Ypresian of the London Clay Formation (England) mainly by the proportions of the subtemporal and the post-temporal fossa openings, the proportions of skull roof bones and its larger size. Protarpon boualii sp. nov. represents the first fossil occurrence of a megalopid in North Africa. Its close phylogenetic relationships with forms from the London Clay Formation highlight the strong biogeographical affinities between the faunas of these two localities during the Palaeocene-Eocene period. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D5FEE8B3-B220-461F-B635-31DD7F2CF921 |
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| Keywords: | Phosphate basins Morocco Palaeocene Actinopterygii Megalopidae |
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