(Middle Triassic) of Wusha (Guizhou Province

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(Middle Triassic) of Wusha (Guizhou Province GORTANIA. Geologia,GORTANIA Paleontologia, Paletnologia 33 (2011) Geologia, Paleontologia, Paletnologia 33 (2011) 39-50 Udine, 29.X.2012 ISSN: 2038-0410 Andrea Tintori A NEW “FLYING” FISH FROM THE UPPER Zuo-Yu Sun Cristina Lombardo LADINIAN (MIDDLE TRIASSIC) OF WUSHA Da-Yong Jiang (GUIZHOU PROVINCE, SOUTHERN CHINA) Cheng Ji Ryosuke Motani UN NUOVO PESCE “VOLANTE” DAL LADINICO SUPERIORE (TRIASSICO MEDIO) DI WUSHA (PROVINCIA DEL GUIZHOU, CINA MERIDIONALE) Riassunto breve - La distribuzione dei pesci “volanti” fossili, con 4 specie appartenenti al genere Thoracopterus, era finora ristretta all’area alpina (corrispondente alla Tetide occidentale durante il Triassico) e all’intervallo di tempo compreso tra il Carnico inferiore di Raibl-Cave del Predil (Udine, Friuli) e il Norico medio-superiore del Calcare di Zorzino (Lombardia). Nuovi ritrovamenti sono venuti alla luce durante lo scavo sistematico di un’ampia superficie del livello fossilifero del Ladinico superiore nel Membro Zhuganpo della Formazione Falang che ha fornito la famosa “Xingyi Fauna” dominata dal pachipleu- rosauro Keichousaurus. Essi permettono di ampliare la distribuzione, sia areale che stratigrafica, diThoracopterus , anticipando la comparsa di questo particolare pesce “subolosteo” alla fine del Triassico Medio, cioè nel Ladinico superiore. Lo scavo si sta svolgendo nei pressi del villaggio di Nimaigu (Distretto di Wusha, Xingyi City, provincia del Guizhou, Cina Meridionale) e interessa globalmente una superficie di strato di quasi 1000 mq; tuttavia lo scavo di dettaglio per la ricerca soprattutto dei piccoli pesci si svolge su una superficie variabile tra i 10 e i 20 mq. La nuova specie di Thoracopterus che viene qui descritta è simile a T. telleri, conosciuto nel Carnico Inferiore di Lunz (Austria), sia nelle dimensioni che nella quasi totale assenza di scaglie sul corpo; questo carattere peraltro è comune anche alle due specie del Norico, T. martinisi e T. magnificus, nelle quali le scaglie sono però totalmente assenti. La nuova specie cinese si differenzia da T. telleri per la presenza di un campo relativamente am- pio di piccole scaglie sub-quadrate subito dietro il cranio e un altro a supporto del lobo ventrale della caudale. Le scaglie della regione dorso-toracica hanno la superficie ornamentata da sottili e brevi strie di ganoina. Come in molti Peltopleuriformes la nuova specie di Thoracopterus presenta dimorfismo sessuale sulla base di una differenziazione della pinna anale. I supposti maschi hanno ossa craniche e pinne pettorali più robuste, mentre le femmine mostrano una ornamentazione delle scaglie dorso-toraciche più sviluppata e la pinna anale modificata con parte posteriore formata da raggi molto sottili e dotati di una serie di uncini terminali. Parole chiave: Triassico Medio, Nuova specie, Thoracopterus wushaensis, Subolostei, Pesce “volante”, Cina. Abstract - Fossil “flying” (gliding) fishes have been known since the XIX century from the Late Triassic of northern Italy and Austria. So far, four species have been ascribed to the genus Thoracopterus. Now a new species is erected on well preserved specimens from a new extensive and detailed excavation started in the summer 2011 near the village of Nimaigu (Wusha District, Xingyi City, Guizhou Province, southern China). The investigation concerns a rich vertebrate level in the Late Ladinian Zhuganpo Member of the Falang Formation. This vertebrate-bearing section is famous because it contains an assemblage made of abundant specimens of the pachipleurosaur Keichousaurus, as well as nothosaurs, ichthyosaurs and a few fish genera (Xingyi Fauna). During the bed by bed excavation several specimens of a new “flying” fish have been collected; mainly on the basis of a peculiar partial scale covering, limited to the antero-dorsal and ventral caudal regions, we erect a new species. As for several other peltopleuriformes, the new species shows a sexual dimorphism that allows the differentiation, mainly base on the anal fin modifications, in “males” and “females”. This new species is closer to the Carnian Thoracopterus telleri than to any of the other three species and it is the oldest known “flying” fish. Key words: Middle Triassic, New species, Thoracopterus wushaensis, Subholosteans, “Flying fish”, China. Introduction (four winged) flying fishes: the genus Cypselurus, for example, whose pectoral and pelvic fins are elongated “Flying” fishes are a well-known, small group of and structured to be very stiff when kept laterally open modern teleosts (Exocoetidae) that had a Triassic (Tintori & Sassi 1992). analogous in the subholostean genus Thoracopterus Fossil “flying” fishes have been known for a long time, (Tintori & Sassi 1992). Actually, Thoracopterus had as Bronn (1858) described Thoracopterus niederristi from a gliding way of flying, like the modern “biplane” the lower Carnian of Raibl (now Cave del Predil, Udine, 39 A. TintoRI, Z.-Y. SUN, C. LombaRdo, D.-Y. Jiang, C. JI, R. Motani GORTANIA. Geologia, Paleontologia, Paletnologia 33 (2011) Fig. 1 - The site of the bed by bed excavation near the village of Nimaigu (Wusha District, Xingyi City, Guizhou Province, China). This quarry will become a field museum being roofed and prepared for tourist visits. In the oval a man for scale. The rectangle shows the area for lamina by lamina searching. - Il sito di scavo sistematico presso il villaggio di Nimaigu (Wusha District, Xingyi City, Guizhou Province, China). Lo scavo verrà attrezzato con una copertura e predisposto per le visite. Nell’ovale, una persona per scala. Nel rettangolo l’area interessata dalle ricerche lamina per lamina. Italy) more than 150 years ago. The type species was known since the half of the last century when Young re-described by Griffith (1977) using specimens from (1958) described the pachipleurosaur Keichousaurus the Carnian of Polzberg (Lunz, Austria). Abel (1906) hui and Su (1959) erected two new genera and three erected a new genus and species (Gigantopterus telleri) species of fish (Asialepidotus shingyiensis, Sinoeugnathus on a specimen from Polzberg: however, Tintori & Sassi kueichowensis, and Peltopleurus orientalis). Since then, (1992) considered Gigantopterus a junior synonymous very little attention has been paid to the fishes preserved of Thoracopterus because the only difference from the in these beds, because research was focused on the type species of Thoracopterus is the scale covering, while numerous Keichousaurus specimens. the general anatomical pattern is the same. Actually, The vertebrate-bearing section has been intensively specimens of T. telleri are on the average somewhat larger excavated in the last 10 years by local farmers over a wide than those of T. niederristi, whereas both the Norian area encompassing the Guizhou (Dinxiao and Xingyi- species, T. magnificus and T. martinisi, show a wide size Wusha localities) and Yunnan provinces (Fuyuan and range (Tintori & Sassi 1987; 1992). Luoping localities). Generally, only medium to large In August 2011 a scientific excavation was started sized Asialepidotus were collected, while those whose at the village of Nimaigu (Wusha District, Xingyi length is less that 10 cm have not been detected at all. City, Guizhou Province, China); during the bed by A few other genera and species have been added to this bed collecting (fig. 1), over 300 reptilian remains as fauna (see Liu et al. 2003) but the validity of some of well as dozens of fishes have been so far collected in them needs confirmation. Lin et al. (2011) ascribed the 28 units (layer 26 to layer 53) of the 5.5 m-thick Peltopleurus orientalis to the genus Habroichthys on the vertebrate-bearing section. They belong to the 96 m basis of the typical squamation shown by the holotype thick Zhuganpo Member of the Falang Formation (Ji and by a couple of other known specimens. et al. 2012). This Late Ladinian vertebrate assemblage This late Ladinian fauna corresponds to the fauna (Jiang et al. 2009, M. Balini, pers. com. 2012) has been contained in the Kalkschieferzone (Calcare di Meride, 40 GORTANIA. Geologia, Paleontologia, Paletnologia 33 (2011) A NEW “FLYING” FISH FROM THE UPPER LADINIAN (TRIASSIC) OF WUSHA (CHINA) Monte San Giorgio, Switzerland and Italy) on the Material and methods western side of the Tethys. It must be stressed that the Kalkschieferzone fauna is quite rich in fishes (Lombardo About ten specimens have been prepared, totally or only 1999; 2001; 2002; Lombardo & Tintori 2004; Tintori partially. Preservation quality varies, depending on the 1990a,b; Tintori & Lombardo 1999; 2007) but to date source bed, but also on the sex of the fish, supposed female has yielded only Lariosaurus among reptiles (Tintori skeleton being lighter than that of males. A few bed surfa- & Renesto 1990). The composition of the two fish ces show structures related to pressure-solution, affecting faunas is rather different: so far they share only the also the preservation of fossils. This is especially true for genus Saurichthys, but this is not significant because the body, since the new species is almost totally naked this genus is widely spread across the whole Triassic. and the endoskeleton elements are not covered by the very Only a few fish genera of the Xingyi Fauna are shared hard ganoine that may somehow protect the bone during with fish-bearing sites of eastern and western Tethys the diagenetic processes: thus it is more easily destroyed. if we consider the whole Middle/Late Triassic interval As for most fish specimens recovered from those beds, (Peripeltopleurus, Habroichthys,
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