Putative Remains of an Enigmatic Cretaceous Bony Fish, Palaeonotopterus greenwoodi (Teleostei: Osteoglossomorpha), from Alabama, U.S.A.

Abstract

Palaeonotopterus greenwoodi Forey is an enigmatic Cretaceous bony fish (Teleostei: Osteoglossomorpha) currently known only from Albian–Cenomanian deposits of Morocco. Here, we describe nine fossil tooth plate specimens from the Eutaw Formation and Mooreville Chalk Formation from Alabama, U.S.A., tentatively assigned to P. greenwoodi. If they indeed belong to the taxon, these specimens not only represent the geologically youngest material ranging from late Santonian to early Campanian in age, but also constitute the first record of the species outside of Morocco.