''Eolactoria sorbinii'' is an extinct prehistoric
boxfish
Ostraciidae is a family of squared, bony fish belonging to the order Tetraodontiformes, closely related to the pufferfishes and filefishes. Fish in the family are known variously as boxfishes, cofferfishes, cowfishes and trunkfishes. It contains ...
that lived during the
Lutetian
The Lutetian is, in the geologic timescale, a stage or age in the Eocene. It spans the time between . The Lutetian is preceded by the Ypresian and is followed by the Bartonian. Together with the Bartonian it is sometimes referred to as the Midd ...
epoch of the middle
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
, in
Monte Bolca.
It had two pairs of long spines, one over each eye, and one pair beneath the anal and caudal fins, arranged very similarly to those possessed by the modern genus ''
Lactoria
''Lactoria'' is a genus of boxfishes.
Species
Three species in this genus are recognized:Matsuura, K. (2014): Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period from 1980 to 2014. ''Ichthyol ...
'' (e.g., "cowfish"), but were, in comparison, much longer. ''E. sorbinii'' had a fifth spine between the two eye-spines, arranged and looking very much like a nose.
The only known fossil specimen is about 5 cm (2 in) long.
See also
* ''
Proaracana
''Proaracana dubia'' is an extinct, prehistoric aracanid boxfish that lived during the Lutetian of middle Eocene Monte Bolca.
See also
* ''Eolactoria''
* Prehistoric fish
The evolution of fish began about 530 million years ago during th ...
'' another boxfish that lived in Monte Bolca
* ''
Oligolactoria
''Oligolactoria bubiki'' is an extinct prehistoric boxfish that lived during the Rupelian epoch from the Middle Oligocene of Moravia, Czech Republic.
In life, it would have strongly resembled a modern cowfish (genus ''Lactoria'').
See also
* ...
'' a possible descendant from the
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
*
Prehistoric fish
The evolution of fish began about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion. It was during this time that the early chordates developed the skull and the vertebral column, leading to the first craniates and vertebrates. The first fis ...
*
List of prehistoric bony fish
References
Eocene fish
Ostraciidae
Fossils of Italy
Fossil taxa described in 1975
{{Tetraodontiformes-stub