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Diversity
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Diversity, Biogeography and Evolution of Actinopterygians
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Diversity, Biogeography and Evolution of Actinopterygians

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2025 | Viewed by 10678

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Małgorzata Bieńkowska-Wasiluk

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
Interests: palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography of fishes; evolution of fishes; diversity; taxonomy; morphology; taphonomy
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kriwet

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Interests: cartilaginous and bony fishes; evolution; palaeobiology; evolutionary developmental biology of vertebrates; diversity and disparity patterns of vertebrates in deep-time
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Actinopterygii are a highly diverse and evolutionarily successful group of ray-finned fishes, full-filling important roles in all aquatic environments on Earth. Their fossil record extends back into the Early Devonian and they are characterized by astonishing morphological and correlated taxonomic diversity throughout their evolutionary history. As extant ray-finned fishes, their extinct relatives adapted to a large variety of habitats and occupied almost all tropic levels in aquatic systems. However, despite all progress that has been accomplished in recent decades employing morphology and molecular genetics, many ambiguities concerning the taxonomy and systematics of fossil and recent fishes continue to persist.

In this Special Issue, we present the latest findings on ray-finned fishes, focusing on the morphology, taxonomy, systematic, distribution, abundance, and diversity patterns of fossil and living ray-finned fishes, as well as how anthropogenic factors impact fish communities today. Specific topics include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) the importance of fossil remains of fishes (scales, bones, otoliths, teeth, skeletons, coprolites, and trace fossils) for taxonomy and systematics; (2) the evolutionary history of Actinopterygii; (3) the diversity and biogeographic patterns of ray-finned fishes in deep time, (4) the ecology of extinct and extant ray-finned fishes, and (5) anthropogenic impacts on fishes and fish communities.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are interested in contributing to this Special Issue, which is intended to form a refernce work on actinopterygian research for both professionals and students, or if you have any questions.

Dr. Małgorzata Bieńkowska-Wasiluk
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kriwet
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bony fishes
  • biogeography
  • diversity
  • evolution
  • morphology
  • taxonomy
  • systematics

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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37 pages, 18007 KiB  
Article
The Problematic Genus Liodesmus Wagner and a New Genus of Caturoidea (Halecomorphi, Neopterygii) from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen-Archipelago
by Martin Ebert and Adriana López-Arbarello
Diversity 2024, 16(9), 568; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16090568 - 12 Sep 2024
Viewed by 4376
Abstract
Our revision of the type material of Liodesmus led to significant adjustments in our understanding of the taxon when the original type specimen of Pholidophorus gracilis, which was later determined as the type species of the genus Liodesmus, was recently found in [...] Read more.
Our revision of the type material of Liodesmus led to significant adjustments in our understanding of the taxon when the original type specimen of Pholidophorus gracilis, which was later determined as the type species of the genus Liodesmus, was recently found in the collection in Berlin. It had been confused with a specimen that was described as the type specimen of the species Liodesmus gracilis in the collection in Munich. Moreover, the Munich specimen was mistakenly considered by all authors who have studied Liodesmus as a type specimen for the genus Liodesmus. However, the original holotype of Pholidophorus gracilis and this Munich specimen of Liodesmus gracilis belong to two different families. Caturus brevicostatus, whose holotype was recently found in Berlin as well, is described in detail here for the first time. Liodesmus sprattiformis is now described under the new genus Nasrinsotoudehichthys outside Caturidae but within the Caturoidea. Since all specimens that have been described so far under Liodesmus either belong to other, previously described genera, belong to new genera clearly outside the description of the genus Liodesmus, or are nomina dubia (including the type species Pholidophorus gracilis), the genus Liodesmus and the Liodesmidae are nomina dubia as well. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity, Biogeography and Evolution of Actinopterygians)
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10 pages, 3039 KiB  
Article
Comparative Shape of Two Recently Diverged Species of Pacific Rockfish: Sebastes ciliatus and S. variabilis
by Jonah Smith, Michael Sorensen, Dennis K. Shiozawa and Mark C. Belk
Diversity 2024, 16(9), 552; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16090552 - 5 Sep 2024
Viewed by 424
Abstract
Species delimitation can be based on the consideration of several different criteria, including the differentiation of ecological or functional traits. Two species of Pacific rockfish, the dark rockfish (Sebastes ciliatus) and the dusky rockfish (Sebastes variabilis), appear to represent [...] Read more.
Species delimitation can be based on the consideration of several different criteria, including the differentiation of ecological or functional traits. Two species of Pacific rockfish, the dark rockfish (Sebastes ciliatus) and the dusky rockfish (Sebastes variabilis), appear to represent recently divergent evolutionary lineages. We evaluate evidence for the differentiation of these two species in somatic shape using geometric morphometrics at two locations in the northeast Pacific where they occur in sympatry. The somatic shape was significantly different between species, but the species’ shape did not vary between the two locations. Sebastes ciliatus had an upturned and relatively smaller head, eye, and jaw, and an elongated midbody, whereas S. variabilis had a downturned and larger head, eye, and jaw, and a shorter midbody. These results suggest that S. ciliatus and S. variabilis are morphometrically differentiated in a similar way in both locations. The somatic shape differentiation between these two sympatric species is similar to genus-wide patterns of somatic shape differentiation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity, Biogeography and Evolution of Actinopterygians)
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26 pages, 5324 KiB  
Article
A New Intriguing Teleost from the Albian Muhi Quarry, Central Mexico, and Early Euteleostean Diversification
by Gloria Arratia and Katia A. González-Rodríguez
Diversity 2024, 16(7), 414; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16070414 - 17 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1117
Abstract
The Albian Muhi Quarry of Central Mexico has produced a variety of fishes, among which the teleosts are the most diversified, including representatives of stem groups together with a variety of crown groups. A new genus and species, †Xeneichthys yanesi, is [...] Read more.
The Albian Muhi Quarry of Central Mexico has produced a variety of fishes, among which the teleosts are the most diversified, including representatives of stem groups together with a variety of crown groups. A new genus and species, †Xeneichthys yanesi, is described based on a unique combination of characters, such as a dorsoventral elongation and narrowing of infraorbitals 2 and 3, preopercle, opercle, and cleithrum; absence of some bones, such as the infraorbital 5, interopercle, and pelvic plate and fin; presence of an elongated urostyle and a membranous outgrowth or stegural on the first uroneural; and cycloid and ctenoid scales on the flanks. Due to its combination of characters, †Xeneichthys yanesi is interpreted as belonging to a new extinct family, †Xeneichthyidae, which is considered as an Euteleostei or Euteleosteomorpha incertae sedis. The fish faunas of another Albian quarry, Tlayúa of Tepexi de Rodriguez, Puebla, and Muhi Quarry are compared, and although both contain taxa that can be assigned to stem teleosts (e.g., †ichthyodectiforms and †crossognathiforms), both also contain crown teleosts (e.g., elopomorphs, clupeomorphs, and euteleosts)—all of which are endemic to their respective quarries and make them important centers of diversification of fish faunas during the Early Cretaceous. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity, Biogeography and Evolution of Actinopterygians)
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Review

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38 pages, 4089 KiB  
Review
The Fossil Record and Diversity of Pycnodontiform Fishes in Non-Marine Environments
by John J. Cawley and Jürgen Kriwet
Diversity 2024, 16(4), 225; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16040225 - 9 Apr 2024
Viewed by 3889
Abstract
Pycnodont fishes were a successful clade of neopterygian fishes that are predominantly found in shallow marine deposits. However, throughout their long 180 million year reign (Late Triassic–end Eocene), they made multiple incursions into both brackish and freshwater environments. This fossil record mostly consists [...] Read more.
Pycnodont fishes were a successful clade of neopterygian fishes that are predominantly found in shallow marine deposits. However, throughout their long 180 million year reign (Late Triassic–end Eocene), they made multiple incursions into both brackish and freshwater environments. This fossil record mostly consists of fragmentary dental material, but articulated specimens are known from Early Cretaceous lacustrine localities in Spain. This review article aims to document all non-marine occurrences of Pycnodontiformes throughout most of the Mesozoic and early Paleogene. This review highlights two interesting trends in the history of non-marine habitat colonization by pycnodonts: (1) a huge spike in non-marine occurrences during the Cretaceous; and (2) that most occurrences in non-marine localities occurred at the latest Cretaceous period, the Maastrichtian. The high number of colonization events within the Cretaceous lines up with extreme climatic events, such as high temperatures resulting in high sea levels which regularly flooded continental masses, allowing pycnodonts easier access to non-marine habitats. The increased presence of pycnodonts in brackish and freshwater habitats during the Maastrichtian might have played a role in their survival through the K/Pg extinction event. Freshwater habitats are not as vulnerable as marine ecosystems to environmental disturbance as the base of their food chain relies on detritus. Pycnodonts might have used such environments as a refuge and began to occupy marine waters after the K/Pg extinction event. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity, Biogeography and Evolution of Actinopterygians)
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