Contribución al conocimiento de los peces Pycnodontiformes (Actinopterygii, neopterygii) del Sajoniense inferior del NO de Alemania descritos por Fricke (1876)

Abstract

Pycnodontiform fishes are mostly represented by disarticulated cranial elements such as the vomer or prearticulars. These elements with their characteristic molariform dentition play an important role in establishing taxonomic identity. During the last 150 years, several species of pycnodonts were described from Lower Saxony based on the dentition of the prearticular and/or vomer. This paper describes a prearticular from Hanover which differs from all known prearticulars of this area and was determined as Proscinetes minutus. It has just three large oval teeth in the principal tooth row. Four tooth rows are above these three large teeth, each of them is formed by six to seven small quadrangular or roundish teeth. The teeth anterior to these tooth rows have no special alignment. They have a roundish form and are as small as the row teeth. Two tooth series are beneath these irregular teeth. This special dentition demonstrates that this prearticular does not belong to the genus Proscinetes because it has more than four tooth rows. It shows similarities (number of tooth rows and form of the large teeth) with the genus Eomesodon, but up to now it is not possible to identity the genus (cf. Eomesodon) with certainty based on a single dental element.