Remarkable teleostean fishes from the Late Jurassic of southern Germany and their phylogenetic relationships

Complete descriptions, as preservation permits, are provided for new Late Jurassic taxa (e.g., † Ascalabothrissops voelkli n. gen. and n. sp., † Anaethalion zapporum n. sp., and † Elopsomolos frickhingeri n. gen. and n. sp.); the phylogenetic positions of these taxa are given, as well as an evaluation of the European teleosts during the Late Jurassic. The relationships among certain fossil and extant teleosts are evaluated based on 191 unweighted morphological characters by using cladistic principles. The results suggest that † Ascalabothrissops n. gen. from the Kimmeridgian of Schamhaupten is the sister‐taxon of † Pachythrissops from the Tithonian of Bavaria, and consequently is an ichthyodectiform. † Anaethalion zapporum n. sp., an elopiform, stands in an unresolved polytomy with † A. angustus, † A. knorri , and a clade formed by † A. angustissimus and more advanced elopiforms. The new results confirm Arratia (1997) that † Anaethalion , as presently understood, is a paraphyletic taxon. † Elopsomolos frickhingeri n. gen. and n. sp. forms a polytomy with † Elopsomolos sp. 1 and 3, and [ Elops + Megalops ]. Monophyly of the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian genus † Elopsomolos is not certain. Following the new phylogenetic hypothesis, that includes new taxa and new characters, the elopomorphs stand as the primitive sister‐group of osteoglossomorphs and more advanced teleosts. The new information does not affect the phylogenetic position of the main extant teleostean clades and confirms previous results by Arratia (1991, 1996, 1997, 1999). The analysis of the elopiforms through time shows that the group had an important radiation during the Late Jurassic, to be replaced by new genera and species during the Cretaceous, and again during the Cenozoic. From numerous genera living in the past, elopiforms are represented now by two genera, Elops and Megalops .