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A New Species of the Ginglymodian Fish Isanichthys from the Late Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation, Northeastern Thailand

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A New Species of the Ginglymodian Fish Isanichthys from the Late Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation, Northeastern Thailand A new species of the ginglymodian fish Isanichthys from the Late Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation, northeastern Thailand UTHUMPORN DEESRI, KOMSORN LAUPRASERT, VARAVUDH SUTEETHORN, KAMONLAK WONGKO, and LIONEL CAVIN Deesri, U., Lauprasert, K., Suteethorn, V., Wongko, K., and Cavin, L. 2014. A new species of the ginglymodian fish Isanichthys from the Late Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation, northeastern Thailand. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 59 (2): 313–331. A new ginglymodian fish, Isanichthys lertboosi, is described from the Phu Kradung Formation, north-eastern Thailand, a freshwater deposit of probable Late Jurassic age. The species is represented by four specimens, from the Phu Noi locality, associated with a rich fauna of sharks, turtles, crocodiles, and theropod and sauropod dinosaurs. One specimen is an isolated braincase, which provides characters rarely observed in extinct ginglymodians. The species is referred to the genus Isanichthys, a taxon originally described on the basis of a single specimen from the Phu Nam Jun locality, a slightly younger site approximately 75 km from Phu Noi. Isanichthys is mainly distinguished by frontals slightly nar- rower anteriorly than posteriorly, two anterior infraorbitals not in contact with the orbit, reduced preorbital region, and a small orbit and a cheek region completely covered by bones. The new species is characterized, among other characters, by a dermal component of the sphenotic visible on the cheek, one pair of extrascapulars plus a small median one, the presence of few suborbitals (ca. 4 or 6) arranged in one row, and a median dorsal row of scales with spine. Comparisons with other ginglymodian taxa and a cladistic analysis indicates that Isanichthys (Lepidotes) latifrons from the Late Ju- rassic of England, as well as probably Isanichthys (Lepidotes) luchowensis from the Early or Middle Jurassic of Sichuan, China, form a clade with both Thai species of Isanichthys. The new species provides evidence of the high diversity of ginglymodian fishes in the Phu Kradung Formation and suggests a new hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships among extinct ginglymodians. Key words: Actinopterygii, Holostei, osteology, braincase, phylogeny, Jurassic, south-east Asia. Uthumporn Deesri [[email protected]], Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham Uni- versity, Khamrieng, Kantharawichai District, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand; Komsorn Laupresert [[email protected]], Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Khamrieng, Kantharawichai District, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand and Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University, Khamrieng, Kantharawichai District, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand; Varavudh Suteethorn [[email protected]], Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University, Khamrieng, Kantharawichai District, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand; Kamonlak Wongko [[email protected]], Department of Mineral Resources, Rama VI Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand; Lionel Cavin [[email protected]], Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Muséum d’Histoire naturelle, CP 6434, 1211 Genève 6, Switzerland. Received 29 January 2012, accepted 31 July 2012, available online 22 August 2012. Copyright © 2014 U. Deesri et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. are still poorly defined (Cavin 2010; Cavin et al. 2013). In Introduction these studies, the “Semionotiformes” are positioned as stem taxa to the Lepisosteiformes, but show poorly resolved in- Ginglymodi is a clade of ray-finned fishes comprising the trarelationships. For more than a century, only a few species Lepisosteiformes (gars and extinct relatives), and the extinct of well-preserved “Semionotiformes” have been described, “Semionotiformes” and Macrosemiiformes (Grande 2010). mostly from Europe, and numerous taxa have been defined Lepisosteiformes and Macrosemiiformes are well character- on the basis of incomplete and often fragmentary material. ized by osteological characters, but the “Semionotiformes” During the last few decades, however, re-examination of Acta Palaeontol. Pol. 59 (2): 313–331, 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.2012.0013 314 ACTA PALAEONTOLOGICA POLONICA 59 (2), 2014 A B D C Fig. 1. A. Schematic map of Thailand with the Isan region (frame) showing the outcrops of the Phu Kradung Formation in black and the localisation of the site of Phu Noi. B. Landscape showing the localization of the Phu Noi excavation site (circle) in the hilly lanscape surrounded by rice pads. C, D. Views of the excavations in Phu Noi in February 2010. The fish specimens are extracted with the plaster jacket technique. old specimens and new taxa found worldwide have greatly stead Ginglymodi, which represents a broader monophyletic improved our knowledge of the group. Without evidence group. Recently, López-Arbarello (2012) provided import- supporting the monophyly of “Semionotiformes” in the ant new results about ginglymodian relationships, showing present analysis, we do not retain this term, and we use in- that Lepisosteiformes includes Lepisosteidae and several DEESRI ET AL.—JURASSIC GINGLYMODIAN FISH FROM THAILAND 315 stem groups, i.e., the Obaichthyidae, Pliodetes, Araripelepi- dotes, Lepidotes (with a new definition, and including three Geological setting Early Jurassic species), Scheenstia (with a new definition, The Phu Noi locality is located on the flank of a small hill at and including seven species from the Late Jurassic and Early Ban Din Chi, Kam Muang District, Kalasin Province (Fig. Cretaceous), as well as Isanichthys palustris. Importantly, a 1B). Stratigraphically, it is in the lower part of the Phu Kra- clade called Semionotiformes is resolved: it comprises the dung Formation, which is characterized by sandstone beds Semionotidae, the Callipurbeckiidae, and the Macrosemii- alternating with silty to sandy claystone beds. This formation dae. The set of characters used in López-Arbarello’s analysis is low in the Khorat Group as currently defined, above the Up- differs from the set of characters used in analyses of Cavin per Nam Phong Formation (Racey 2009). The Khorat Group (2010), Cavin et al. (2013) and in the present study. We dis- comprises post-Triassic deposits on the Khorat Plateau and cuss and compare our results with those of López-Arbarello adjacent areas, and it has long been regarded as Late Jurassic, (2012). but palynological studies now suggest Early Cretaceous ages In Thailand, ginglymodians constitute the most com- for most of the vertebrate-bearing horizons, i.e., the Phra Wi- mon fish remains in the continental Mesozoic deposits of han, Sao Khua, Phu Phan and Khok Kruat formations (Racey the Khorat series in the northeastern part of the country, et al. 1994, 1996). The dating of the Phu Kradung Formation and well-preserved material has been uncovered since the is still problematic, but a recent synthesis suggests a Late 2000s (Cavin et al. 2009). The most productive locality, Jurassic age for its lowermost part, in which the Phu Noi lo- Phu Nam Jun, located in Tambon LaoYai, Kalasin province, cality is located, and a basal Cretaceous (Berriasian) age for exposes the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Phu Kradung the upper part (Racey 2009; Cuny et al. 2013). Formation (Cavin et al. 2004). It has yielded “Lepidotes” The sediments of the Phu Kradung Formation are fluvi- buddhabutrensis (Cavin et al. 2003), a ginglymodian that atile and lacustrine in origin, and the main palaeocurrents are was recently referred to a new genus, Thaiichthys Cav- oriented towards the SW (Racey 2009). At Phu Noi, greenish in, Deesri, and Suteethorn, 2013. While Thaiichthys bud- grey sandy deposits are interbedded with maroon siltstone dhabutrensis is represented in this locality by several hun- beds, which are mica rich and contain laminated plant debris. dreds of complete and subcomplete individuals (Deesri et The fish remains have been found in two main layers. The al. 2009), a single specimen has been referred to another upper layer consists of an accumulation of dinosaur skele- taxon by Cavin and Suteethorn (2006). In September 2008, tons, approximately 3 m thick and dips approximately 10° a new excavation at the Phu Noi locality was opened in towards the SE. The fossil assemblage consists of fragments Kalasin District, approximately 75 km NW of Phu Nam Jun of skeletons of sauropod dinosaurs, isolated theropod bones, (Fig. 1). Although also exposing the Phu Kradung Forma- fragments of skeletons of crocodiles, turtle and shark re- tion, the new locality is at an older stratigraphical level than mains, and includes two specimens of ginglymodian fishes. Phu Nam Jun (Cuny et al. 2013). Phu Noi has yielded an The lower layer is approximately 2 m below the dinosaur array of tetrapods, as well as isolated shark teeth and some assemblage, and has yielded the other two ginglymodian ginglymodian remains. The latter material is described in specimens. However, there are no visible differences in terms this paper. of sediment deposition between these two layers. Institutional abbreviations.—CDUT, Palaeontological Mu- seum of the Chengdu University of Technology, China; KS, Sirindhorn Museum, Sahat Sakhan, Kalasin Province, Thai- Systematic palaeontology land; NHMUK, Natural History Museum, London, UK. Superdivision Holostei Müller, 1844 (sensu Grande 2010)
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