Aequalobythites aequaloides ( Nolf & Stringer, 2003 )

Lin, Chien-Hsiang & Nolf, Dirk, 2022, Middle and late Eocene fish otoliths from the eastern and southern USA, European Journal of Taxonomy 814, pp. 1-122 : 52

Aequalobythites aequaloides ( Nolf & Stringer, 2003)

Fig. 38L–O

“genus Neobythitinarum ” aequaloides Nolf & Stringer, 2003: 7 , pl. 3 figs 11–14.

“ Neobythitina ” aequaloides – Nolf 2013: 68, pl. 134.

Remarks

Otoliths of this species are only known by specimens from the Yazoo Clay (Priabonian) of Louisiana. They are closely related to those of the species originally described as Lepophidium aequalis Stinton & Nolf, 1970 from the Belgian Lede Formation (Lutetian), that Schwarzhans (1981b) placed in the extinct genus Aequalobythites . Other related species are A. regularis (Priem, 1911) from the Lutetian and Bartonian of the Paris Basin, Belgium and southern England, and A. hilgendorfi (Koken, 1891) from the German lower Oligocene.

Stratigraphic and geographic distribution

Priabonian: Yazoo Clay, Louisiana.

Figures

Fig. 38 (opposite page). Fish otoliths from the US middle and upper Eocene. A. “Ophichthus” brevior (Koken, 1888), holotype (ZMB Ot. 26), “Jackson Beds”, Mississippi (?). B. Gnathophis dissimilis (Frizzell & Lamber, 1962), Moodys Branch F., Town Creek, Jackson, Mississippi (IRSNB P 9038). C. Paraconger solidus Müller, 1999, holotype (coll. Institut für Geowissenschaften, University of Leipzig, Nr. 10/P67), Piney Point F., loc. 24 (Horseshoe) of Müller, 1999, Virginia. D–G. Paraconger yazooensis Nolf & Stringer, 2003, Yazoo Clay, Tullos M., Copenhagen, Louisiana. D. Holotype (IRSNB P 6962). E–G. Paratypes (IRSNB P 6963–6965). H. Muraenanguilla aff. thevenini (Priem, 1906), Yazoo Clay, Copenhagen, Louisiana (IRSNB P 6966). I. Signata nicoli Dante & Frizzell, 1965, Weches F., Pleasanto, Atascosa County, Texas, holotype (USNM 23370). J. Xenosirembo decipiens (Koken, 1888), lectotype (ZMB Ot. 135), middle Eocene, “Clayborne Group”, southern USA. K. Brotula aquitanica Nolf, 1980, Yazoo Clay, Tullos M., Copenhagen, Louisiana (IRSNB P 7419). L–O. Aequalobythites aequaloides (Nolf & Stringer, 2003), Yazoo Clay, Copenhagen, Louisiana.L. Holotype (IRSNB P 6977). M–O. Paratypes (IRSNB P 6978–6980). 1 = ventral view; 2 = inner view. Scale bars = 1 mm.