Makaira purdyi Fierstine, 1999b

Gracia, Carlos De, Correa-Metrio, Alex, Carvalho, Monica, Velez-Juarbe, Jorge, P ̆ rik, Tom ́ a ̆ s, , Carlos Jarami & Kri, nd Jurgen, 2022, Towards a unifying systematic scheme of fossil and living billfishes (Teleostei, Istiophoridae), Journal of Systematic Palaeontology (2091959) 20 (1), pp. 1-36 : 18-19

† Makaira purdyi Fierstine, 1999b

( Figs 8D, 9F)

1999a † Makaira purdyi Fierstine : 76, figs 1–4, table 1–4.

Emended diagnosis. † Makaira purdyi is differentiated by the following combination of morphological traits (autapomorphic characters indicated by an asterisk): rostrum higher than wide in cross-section$; denticles covering the dorsal surface of the rostrum including the prenasals$; rostrum short; prenasals terminate close to distal tip.

Holotype. USNM 481933, a partial rostrum without nasals and a preserved total length of 480 mm.

Occurrence. Early to late Pliocene (~4.8–3.1 Ma), Yorktown Formation ( Snyder et al. 1983). Lee Creek Mine, located near Aurora, Beaufort Country, eastern North Carolina, USA ( Fierstine 1999b).

Remarks. The only fossil of this species is an unusually short (480 mm) and stout bill ( Fig. 8D) that is oval in cross-section with a globular distal tip ( Fig. 8D). The most diagnostic characteristic is the presence of prenasals that terminate nearly at the most distal tip ( Fig. 8D). The rostrum is massive and differs morphologically from any extant or fossil istiophorid rostrum by having short and strongly fused premaxillae with denticles covering at least half of its dorsal surface ( Fig. 8D). The internal canals are large, oval and levogyres, ventrally positioned and centrally arranged at 0.25 L distance (Table 4; Fig. 9F). For a more complete description of † Makaira purdyi see Fierstine (1999b).