Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia (Research in Paleontology and Stratigraphy) vol. 126(1): 111-155. March 2020 HIGHLY DIVERSIFIED LATE CRETACEOUS FISH ASSEMBLAGE REVEALED BY OTOLITHS (RIPLEY FORMATION AND OWL CREEK FORMATION, NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI, USA) GARY L. STRINGER1, WERNER SCHWARZHANS*2 , GEORGE PHILLIPS3 & ROGER LAMBERT4 1Museum of Natural History, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, Louisiana 71209, USA. E-mail:
[email protected] 2Natural History Museum of Denmark, Zoological Museum, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail:
[email protected] 3Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, 2148 Riverside Drive, Jackson, Mississippi 39202, USA. E-mail:
[email protected] 4North Mississippi Gem and Mineral Society, 1817 CR 700, Corinth, Mississippi, 38834, USA. E-mail:
[email protected] *Corresponding author To cite this article: Stringer G.L., Schwarzhans W., Phillips G. & Lambert R. (2020) - Highly diversified Late Cretaceous fish assemblage revealed by otoliths (Ripley Formation and Owl Creek Formation, Northeast Mississippi, USA). Riv. It. Paleontol. Strat., 126(1): 111-155. Keywords: Beryciformes; Holocentriformes; Aulopiformes; otolith; evolutionary implications; paleoecology. Abstract. Bulk sampling and extensive, systematic surface collecting of the Coon Creek Member of the Ripley Formation (early Maastrichtian) at the Blue Springs locality and primarily bulk sampling of the Owl Creek Formation (late Maastrichtian) at the Owl Creek type locality, both in northeast Mississippi, USA, have produced the largest and most highly diversified actinopterygian otolith (ear stone) assemblage described from the Mesozoic of North America. The 3,802 otoliths represent 30 taxa of bony fishes representing at least 22 families. In addition, there were two different morphological types of lapilli, which were not identifiable to species level.