''Prohalecites'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

from the

Ladinian The Ladinian is a stage and age in the Middle Triassic series or epoch. It spans the time between Ma and ~237 Ma (million years ago). The Ladinian was preceded by the Anisian and succeeded by the Carnian (part of the Upper or Late Triassic ...

and possibly

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Triassic series (stratigraphy), Series (or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Triassic Epoch (reference date), Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227 m ...

(

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...

) of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It is the oldest known teleosteomorph, a group that includes extant

teleosts Teleostei (; Greek ''teleios'' "complete" + ''osteon'' "bone"), members of which are known as teleosts ), is, by far, the largest infraclass in the class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes, containing 96% of all extant species of fish. Teleo ...

and their close fossil relatives. The type and only known species, ''Prohalecites porroi'', was first described as "'' Pholidophorus porroi''" by Cristoforo Bellotti, but it was later accommodated in its own genus by

Wilhelm Deecke Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

. The species ''"Pholidophorus" microlepidotus'' has occasionally been included in this genus as well, but it differed greatly from ''P. porroi'' in several respects, indicating that it was not closely related. Species of ''Prohalecites'' are small, often measuring not more than in body length.

References

Prehistoric teleostei Monotypic ray-finned fish genera Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Ladinian genera Carnian genera Middle Triassic fish Late Triassic fish of Europe Triassic Italy Fossils of Italy Fossil taxa described in 1889 {{Triassic-fish-stub

See also

References