Fossil fish provides new insights into the evolution
An international research team led by Giuseppe Marramà from the
Institute of Paleontology at the University of Vienna discovered a new
and well-preserved fossil stingray with an exceptional anatomy, which
greatly differs from living species. The find provides new insights into
the evolution of these animals and sheds light on the recovery of
marine ecosystems after the mass extinction occurred 66 million years
ago. The study was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Stingrays (Myliobatiformes)
are a very diverse group of cartilaginous fishes which are known for
their venomous and serrated tail stings, which they use against other
predatory fish,
and occasionally against humans. These rays have a rounded or wing-like
pectoral disc and a long, whip-like tail that carries one or more
serrated and venomous stings. The stingrays include the biggest rays of
the world like the gigantic manta rays, which can reach a "wingspan" of
up to seven meters and a weight of about three tons.
Fossil remains of stingrays are very common, especially their
isolated teeth. Complete skeletons, however, exist only from a few extinct species
coming from particular fossiliferous sites. Among these, Monte Bolca,
in northeastern Italy, is one of the best known. So far, more than 230
species of fishes have been discovered that document a tropical marine
coastal environment associated with coral reefs which dates back to
about 50 million years ago in the period called Eocene.
This new fossil stingray
has a flattened body and a pectoral disc ovoid in shape. What is
striking is the absence of sting and the extremely short tail, which is
not long as in the other stingrays, and does not protrude posteriorly to
the disc. This body plan is not known in any other fossil or living
stingray. Since this animal is unique and peculiar, the researchers
named the new stingray Lessiniabatis aenigmatica, which means "bizarre ray from Lessinia" (the Italian area where Bolca is located).
More than 70 percent of the organisms, such as dinosaurs, marine
reptiles, several mammal groups, numerous birds, fish and invertebrates,
disappeared during the fifth largest extinction event in the Earth's
history occurred about 66 million years ago at the end of the
Cretaceous. In marine environments,
the time after this event is characterized by the emergence and
diversification of new species and entire groups of bony and
cartilaginous fishes (sharks and rays), which reoccupied the ecological
niches left vacant by the extinction's victims. The new species experimented sometimes new body plans and new ecological strategies.
"From this perspective, the emergence of a new body plan in a 50-million-year-old stingray such as Lessiniabatis aenigmatica
is particularly intriguing when viewed in the context of simultaneous,
extensive diversification and emergence of new anatomical features
within several fish groups, during the recovery of the life after the
end-Cretaceous extinction event," states Giuseppe Marramà.
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