Coccolepis AGASSIZ, 1843 (Coccolepididae, Chondrostei) from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Archipelago - rediscovery of the type specimen and open questions

Ebert, Martin; Bapst, Laure; Kölbl-Ebert, Martina; Malvesy, Thierry und Lopez-Arbarello, Adriana (2021): Coccolepis AGASSIZ, 1843 (Coccolepididae, Chondrostei) from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Archipelago - rediscovery of the type specimen and open questions. In: Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie-Abhandlungen, Bd. 300, Nr. 1: S. 11-22

Abstract

Coccolepis bucklandi Agassiz, 1843, is an iconic taxon from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Archipelago (Germany) because it was the first fossil of a non-neopterygian actinopterygian younger than the Triassic. Although the species is rare in the famous Lagerstatte, it has been well studied based on a few very well-preserved specimens which became the benchmark for the species. The holotype specimen was lost and its recent rediscovery in the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Neuchatel, Switzerland, together with the find of one additional specimen in the collections of the Jura-Museum Eichstatt, Germany, triggered a new study. Both the holotype and the new specimen JME-SOS3445 present some morphological differences when compared with the previously known benchmark specimens. In this contribution, we present the rediscovered holotype, describe JME-SOS3445 and discuss the observed morphological variability and its potential significance. Whether this variability is due to intraspecific variation or whether it is evidence of a higher alpha taxonomic diversity, remains an open question.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Geowissenschaften > Department für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 550 Geowissenschaften, Geologie
• ISSN: 0077-7749
• Sprache: Englisch