A New Genus and Species of Anglerfish (Teleostei: Lophiiformes: Lophiidae) from the Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy
†Sharfia mirabilis, a new genus and species of lophiid anglerfish from the Ypresian of Monte Bolca, northern Italy, is described from a single specimen residing among collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris. Together with †Lophius brachysomus Agassiz, 1835, known from three or four individuals also from Monte Bolca, †Sharfia mirabilis is the oldest member of the teleost family Lophiidae known to date based on articulated skeletal remains. It possesses several autapomorphic features as well as a unique combination of character states, especially in the structure of the opercular bones, which clearly separate it from all other known lophiiform fishes. Among extant lophiid genera, the new taxon shows perhaps the strongest phenetic resemblance to Sladenia and Lophiodes. †Sharfia mirabilis most likely inhabited inner shelf regions of the central Tethys Sea about 50 Ma, living at moderate depths on soft mud or sand bottoms, much like extant members of the family.
†Sharfia mirabilis, new genus and species, holotype, MNHN Bol 38–39, 39.9 mm SL: (A) as †Loricaria plecostomus Volta, 1796; (B) as †Lophius brachysomus Agassiz, 1835. Photographs courtesy of Anna Vaccari, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona.
†Sharfia mirabilis, new genus and species, holotype, MNHN Bol 38–39, 39.9 mm SL. Photograph courtesy of Philippe Loubry, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.
Hypothetical reconstruction of †Sharfia mirabilis, new genus and species. Drawing by Joseph R. Tomelleri.
Reconstruction of the head, pectoral girdle, and anterior half of the axial skeleton of †Sharfia mirabilis, new genus and species, MNHN Bol 38–39, 39.9 mm SL.
Skeletal reconstruction of †Sharfia mirabilis, new genus and species, MNHN Bol 38–39, 39.9 mm SL: (A) posterior part of hyoid bar and posteriormost branchiostegal ray; (B) soft dorsal fin and eight posteriormost vertebral centra; (C) caudal fin.
Contributor Notes
Associate Editor: D. Buth.