https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2017.12.017
Aguilera & Marceniuk wrote:ABSTRACT
Herein we describe five new fossil species of the catfish family Ariidae: †, †, †, † and † from the late Miocene Urumaco Formation in Venezuela, South America. These identifications were based on comparison of morphological characters between the fossil skulls and the skulls of extant specimens from tropical America. The extant ariids from the Atlantic plume of the Orinoco-Amazon Rivers reveal close taxonomic relationship to the fossil species. †Amphiarius paleoorinocoensis n. sp. and † are closely related to , and , species endemic to areas under the influence of the Orinoco-Amazon plume. Another genus whose extant species are almost exclusively found in this region of the Atlantic is . However, the close relationship of †Sciades peregrinus n. sp. and †Sciades latissimum n. sp. to S. dowii, the only representative in the Pacific, may be evidence of the extinction in the Atlantic of a lineage of Sciades. The fossil †Ariopsis ariopsilus n. sp. shares many characters with extant species of the genus, which does not occur in the Amazon delta and which has no representative species in the Atlantic plume. The close relationship of †Bagre urumacoensis n. sp. to suggests a marine paleoenvironment with average to higher salinities. These new fossil catfish specimens from the Urumaco Formation suggest that they are ancestral lineages from both the Orinoco-Amazon Atlantic plume influence area (Aspistor, Amphiarius and Sciades) and the Caribbean-Western Pacific (Ariopsis).
- Keywords: Proto-Caribbean; Paleo Orinoco-Amazon rivers plume; Fossil catfish; Miocene
