Aglyptorhynchus venablesi
Aglyptorhynchus venablesi
Summary
Aglyptorhynchus venablesi was another specialised long-snouted teleost in the London Clay fish assemblage. The preserved rostrum was substantial and internally traversed by nutrient canals, indicating a living, vascularised extension of the skull. Its overall construction suggests an active marine predator, but the exact feeding function of the bill remains an inference because the species is known mainly from isolated rostral material.
A. venablesi is especially informative for the diversity of bill-bearing fishes in the early Eocene. The rostrum changes markedly in section from its base toward the tip and its canal system simplifies distally, features that provide anatomical evidence for how the bill was constructed and reinforced.
Quick Identification
Look for: a stout rostrum that is almost square in cross-section near the base but becomes more rounded distally, with several large internal nutrient canals proximally that merge toward a single main canal farther forward.
Diagnostic Features
- Proximal rostrum is approximately quadrangular in cross-section.
- Distal rostrum becomes near-circular rather than remaining flattened or square.
- Four large longitudinal nutrient canals are present near the rostral base.
- Major nutrient canals converge and simplify toward a single dominant distal canal.
- Small accessory canals may occur dorsally in the proximal part of the rostrum.
Fossil Details
Recorded Fossil Sites
London Clay Formation
References
- Casier, E. (1966). Faune ichthyologique du London Clay. 496 pp.. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London View reference
- Friedman, M.; Beckett, H. T.; Close, R. A.; Johanson, Z. (2016). The English Chalk and London Clay: two remarkable British bony fish Lagerstätten. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 430(1), 165–200. Geological Society of London, London View reference
- Monsch, K. A. (2005). Revision of the scombroid fishes from the Cenozoic of England. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 95(3–4), 445–489 View reference