identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
03D21512B703FFF9FF5F2E1FFF761547.text	03D21512B703FFF9FF5F2E1FFF761547.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Chiarachromis Bellwood & Bannikov & Zorzin 2025	<div><p>Genus † Chiarachromis gen. nov.</p><p>Diagnosis: Moderately elongate fish with a relatively short and deep caudal peduncle. Head moderately large. Maximum body depth exceeds head length. Lower jaw articulation anterior to orbit. Teeth blunt. Mouth relatively small. 25 (11+14) vertebrae. Supraneurals 3; predorsal formula /0/0+0+1/1+1/. Dorsal fin long-based and continuous, with 10 strong spines and 11 soft rays. Soft portion of dorsal fin is higher than its spiny portion. Anal fin with 2 supernumerary spines (2nd very strong) and 7 rays (anterior of which longer than dorsal-fin rays). Height of anal fin 1.9 times its base length. Postcleithrum strong. Pectoral fins with not less than 15 rays. Pelvic fins inserted just behind pectorals, strongly elongated. Caudal fin truncated. Scales large and thick, especially at dorsal and ventral contours of body. Lateral line follows dorsal contour of body and interrupted below anterior portion of soft dorsal fin.</p><p>Species contained: † Chiarachromis salazzarii sp. nov., by monotypy and designation herein.</p><p>Etymology: The genus is named in honour of the paleontologist Chiara Sorbini who has long been associated with the fishes of Monte Bolca, building on the foundational work of our colleague and friend the late Lorenzo Sorbini.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D21512B703FFF9FF5F2E1FFF761547	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Bellwood, David R.;Bannikov, Alexandre F.;Zorzin, Roberto	Bellwood, David R., Bannikov, Alexandre F., Zorzin, Roberto (2025): A new genus and species of damselfish (Pomacentridae) from the Eocene of Bolca, Northern Italy, with notes on the evolution of predator-prey interactions in coral reef fishes. Zootaxa 5642 (6): 562-572, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5642.6.4, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5642.6.4
03D21512B700FFFEFF5F2BB2FCD910FB.text	03D21512B700FFFEFF5F2BB2FCD910FB.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Chiarachromis salazzarii Bellwood & Bannikov & Zorzin 2025	<div><p>† Chiarachromis salazzarii sp. nov.</p><p>Figures 1–3</p><p>Diagnosis: As for the genus.</p><p>Etymology: The species is named after Mr. Giovanni Salazzari, a paleontophile from Verona, for reports in the area.</p><p>Holotype: MCSNV V.1096, single plate, complete skeleton relatively poorly preserved and somewhat damaged by fractures; 45 mm SL. The bony substance of many structures (most of vertebrae, supraneurals and anal-fin pterygiophores) is missing, and only their imprints are available. However, thick scales interfere with the clarity of the imprints.</p><p>Referred specimens: None.</p><p>Type locality and horizon: Pesciara site, Bolca Lagerstätte, northeastern Italy; late early Eocene, late Ypresian, Middle Cuisian, slightly less than 49 Ma (see Papazzoni et al. 2014).</p><p>Description</p><p>General proportions: The body is relatively deep, with a rather short and deep caudal peduncle. The body depth is 2.36 times shorter than SL. The maximum body depth is opposite the origin of the dorsal fin. The caudal peduncle depth is about 0.38 of the body depth. The head is moderately large; its length is about 1.2 times less than the body depth. The head length is contained approximately 2.9 times in SL. The dorsal profile of the body is almost as convex as the ventral profile of the body.</p><p>As percentage of SL of holotype: head length = 34–35; maximum body depth = 42.5; caudal peduncle depth = 16; snout length = 11; orbit diameter = 8.4; lower jaw length = 13.7; distance between tip of the snout and first dorsal-fin spine = ca. 40; distance between tip of the snout and first dorsal-fin soft ray = ca. 73; distance between tip of the snout and anal fin = ca. 74; distance between pelvic and anal fins = 27; dorsal-fin base length = 49; spinous dorsal-fin base length = 33; anal-fin base length = 13; length of the first dorsal-fin spine = 10.5; length of the longest dorsal-fin spine = 17.6; length of the longest dorsal-fin soft ray = 18.5; length of the second anal-fin spine = 20; length of the longest anal-fin soft ray = 24.6; length of the pelvic fin = ≥30; length of the longest caudal-fin ray = 25.7.</p><p>Head. The head is almost as deep as long. The orbit is rather small and placed relatively high on the head depth. The horizontal diameter of the orbit is about 24% HL. The snout exceeds the orbit diameter. The mouth is relatively small and terminal. The lower jaw articulation is situated anterior to the orbit. No infraorbital bones are recognizable. The neurocranium is partly damaged by sub-vertical fracture; it seems to be relatively deep, with the supraoccipital crest not preserved. The ethmoid region is short. The parasphenoid is robust and passes at the lower border of the orbit; it seems to have the ventral longitudinal ridge. Some remains of the small elongated nasal bones are recognizable. Among the upper jaw bones only the premaxillae are incompletely preserved. The premaxilla has a moderate rather slender ascending process divided from a relatively robust articular process. There is also rounded postmaxillary process. Few premaxillary teeth are preserved; these are relatively small, sub-cylindrical and blunt (Fig. 2). The lower jaw is robust; its length is about 40% HL. The dentary has somewhat oblique symphysis. The dentition of the dentary is equal to that of the upper jaw; the relatively small teeth being dark at their slightly bent tips. The angulo-articular forms a relatively deep retroarticular process. The hyomandibular shaft is only slightly inclined from the vertical line. Details of the structure of the suspensorium and pterygoids are relatively poorly recognizable. The quadrate seems to be sub-triangular in shape; it contacts to the hyomandibula through the trapezoid metapterygoid. The endopterygoid and ectopterygoid are less distinct. The opercular region is rather broad, with individual bones being indistinct. The preopercle seems to be only slightly curved along its anterior margin; one blunt spinule is preserved on posteroventral edge. Of the hyoid bones, the robust ceratohyal is evident; it bears six sabre-like branchiostegal rays, the first of which is especially narrow. The glossohyal is narrow and elongate. The pomacentrid urohyal is high (Kusaka 1974); however, its upper and middle portions are hidden by the other bones in the holotype. Only the lower portion of the urohyal is recognizable; the bone is expanded laterally along its ventral border. No branchial bones are recognizable; only one moderate ovoid smooth pharyngeal tooth is evident.</p><p>Axial skeleton. There are 25 vertebrae, including the urostyle: eleven abdominal and fourteen caudal. Bony substance of the sixth and succeeding vertebrae and their neural spines is almost completely missing, and only their imprints are available. The axis of the vertebral column is slightly sigmoid and somewhat elevated anteriorly. The vertebral centra seem to be mostly rectangular in lateral view; they bear poorly developed longitudinal lateral ridge on each side. The length of the caudal portion of the vertebral column is 1.4 times greater than the length of the abdominal portion of the vertebral column. The vertebral spines seem to be moderately long and robust, straight or only slightly curved. The neural spines of most of the anterior abdominal vertebrae are evidently more strongly expanded than those of the succeeding vertebrae. The haemal spines of most of the caudal vertebrae are somewhat longer than the opposite neural spines. The parapophyses are poorly recognizable in at least three posteriormost abdominal vertebrae. The pleural ribs seem to be moderately long; these rather strongly inclined posteroventrally and occupy upper half of the abdominal cavity. None of the epineurals are recognizable.</p><p>Pectoral fin and girdle. Most of the pectoral girdle bones are either poorly preserved or scarcely recognizable being presented by their imprints. The cleithrum is strong and straight along most of its anterior margin; its posterodorsal expansion is under the fourth vertebra. Posteroventrally from this expansion extends the long and rather broad ventral postcleithrum; it terminates behind the pelvic-fin base. Unclear imprints of the coracoid indicate that this bone is subtriangular and relatively broad. The right pectoral fin is preserved; it is mostly obscured by the scale cover, but is better recognizable when the specimen is moistened with alcohol. There are 15 (16?) pectoral-fin rays. The base of the pectoral fin is situated opposite the sixth vertebra above the middle of the distance between the vertebral column and the ventral profile of the body. The pectoral fin seems to be moderately long.</p><p>Pelvic fin and girdle. The pelvic bones are long and relatively narrow. The pelvic fin is long; its longest ray reaches behind the anal-fin origin. The pelvic-fin spine is missing; its partial imprint on the matrix indicates that the spine was long but much shorter than the longest pelvic-fin soft rays. The exact number of soft, branched rays in the pelvic fin is scarcely recognizable, because these rays are folded and partially overlap each other.</p><p>Supraneurals and dorsal fin. There are three moderate supraneurals with small apical projections anteriorly and posteriorly; the supraneurals apparently increase in length posteriorly in the series. Although the first two vertebrae have their neural spines incomplete distally, it seems likely that none supraneural is accommodated between the occiput and the neural spine of the first vertebra, i.e., in the preneural space. The predorsal formula (Ahlstrom et al., 1976; Johnson, 1984) is reconstructed as /0/0+0+1/1+1/.</p><p>The dorsal fin is long-based and continuous, with its soft portion being higher than spiny portion. The dorsal fin originates over the third to fourth vertebra gap and terminates over the 21 th vertebra. There are 10 dorsal-fin spines and 11 soft segmented rays. The dorsal-fin spines are moderately strong; first two of them are close-set, whereas the other spines are widely spaced. The second and third spines are the longest, subsequent spines gradually decrease in length posteriorly in the series. The third spine is 1.7 times longer than the first spine and 1.6 times longer than the last spine. The first dorsal-fin spine is supernumerary on the first dorsal-fin pterygiophore. The soft rays of the dorsal fin are close-set relative to the dorsal-fin spines. The first soft ray is unbranched, while the other rays are branched. The longest soft ray of the dorsal fin (situated in the beginning of the soft portion) is 1.05 times longer than the longest dorsal-fin spine. The length of the base of the soft portion of the dorsal fin is 2.2 times shorter than the base length of the spiny portion of the dorsal fin. There are 20 dorsal-fin pterygiophores in total. The first pterygiophore is longest, expanded anteroposteriorly, and bears a longitudinal strengthening ridge; the succeeding pterygiophores of spines are also broad, whereas those of soft rays become narrower and decrease in length posteriorly in the series. Degree of inclination of the dorsal-fin pterygiophores gently increase posteriorly in the series. The interneural spaces below the dorsal fin have the ventral shafts of one (most of the fin) or two (most spaces under the soft portion) pterygiophores present. There are no vacant interneural spaces. The fin membranes appear to be distinctly darker than the surrounding matrix although this may be the result of coating this part with varnish or glue by the preparators.</p><p>Comparing the relative height of the dorsal fin with other pomacentrid species (Bolca and extant), the results suggest that Chiarachromis had a higher dorsal fin than all extant pomacentrid genera, and all extinct forms with the exception of Sorbinichromis (Figure 4).</p><p>Anal fin. The anal fin is high but short at the base; it originates under the fifth caudal vertebra and terminates under the ninth caudal vertebra. There are two spines and seven soft, segmented and branched rays in the anal fin. The first anal-fin spine is weak, whereas the second spine is very strong; it is thicker and 1.14 times longer than the longest dorsal-fin spine. Both of the two anal-fin spines are supernumerary. The longest (anterior) anal-fin soft ray is 1.23 times longer than the second anal-fin spine; subsequent rays rapidly decrease in length posteriorly in the series. The first anal-fin pterygiophore is very long and narrow, wedge-like in shape; it is inclined at an angle ≈45° to the body axis. Bony substance of the most succeeding anal-fin pterygiophores is almost completely missing, and only their imprints are available. It seems that these pterygiophores are much shorter and slenderer than the first one, and rapidly decrease in length posteriorly in the series.</p><p>Caudal fin and skeleton. Bony substance of the caudal skeleton is almost completely missing, and only its imprint is available. It is clear that terminal centrum is composed of the fusion of PU1, U1 and U2; however, conditions of the hypurals and parhypural are less easily recognizable, although these bones seem to be autogenous. Definitely, there is a wide hypural diastema between the epaxial and hypaxial hypurals, and the two lobes of the caudal fin are widely separated basally. The caudal fin is truncated, moderately long but deep. There are obviously 15 principal rays in the caudal fin (I, 7-6, I); seven procurrent rays above and six rays below are also present.</p><p>Squamation. Large and thick scales cover the entire body and the head. Some scales exhibit several basal radii (not more than six), few circuli and concentric striations; however, ctenii were not observed (but there are no scales in the material with a well-preserved apical field). Scales are especially thick at the dorsal and ventral contours of the body; these slightly cover the anal- and spiny dorsal-fin bases and more strongly cover the caudal-fin base. Posterior portion of the lateral line courses relatively high, it follows the dorsal profile of the body and is interrupted below the second soft ray of the dorsal fin.</p><p>No pigmentation is traceable except for indistinct minute spots on some scales. Few fragments of black peritoneum are preserved in the region of the abdominal cavity.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D21512B700FFFEFF5F2BB2FCD910FB	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Bellwood, David R.;Bannikov, Alexandre F.;Zorzin, Roberto	Bellwood, David R., Bannikov, Alexandre F., Zorzin, Roberto (2025): A new genus and species of damselfish (Pomacentridae) from the Eocene of Bolca, Northern Italy, with notes on the evolution of predator-prey interactions in coral reef fishes. Zootaxa 5642 (6): 562-572, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5642.6.4, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5642.6.4
