A NEW DERCETID FISH (NEOTELEOSTEI: AULOPIFORMES) FROM THE TURONIAN OF THE PELOTAS BASIN, SOUTHERN BRAZIL

  Dercetid fishes are common in Tethyan marine deposits of Europe, Asia and Africa. In this paper, we describe a South American dercetid fish, Brazilodercetis longirostris gen. et sp. nov., based on juvenile and adult specimens found in core samples at c. 4000 m sediment depth in the Atlântida Formation (Pelotas Basin, southern Brazil). Brazilodercetis longirostris is a slender, elongate fish recognized on the basis of the following features: prominent snout; contact between mesethmoid and frontals very anterior to the orbit; mesethmoid separating the premaxillae for half of their length; juvenile specimens bearing wedge‐like teeth on the anterior third of maxilla; long and shallow crest crossing epioccipital, parietal and posterior border of frontal; a pipe‐like preopercle; and reduced neural spine at the middle point of neural arch. Brazilodercetis shares a number of features with the other dercetids, including a pointed snout that is longer than the lower jaw (with Rhynchodercetis and Hastichthys ), a medioparietal skull roof (with Cyranichthys and Benthesikyme ), an unroofed posttemporal fossa (with Dercetoides , Rhynchodercetis and Pelargorhynchus ), a flange on the anguloarticular (with Dercetoides , Hastichthys , Rhynchodercetis and Cyranichthys ), untoothed premaxillae (with Hastichthys and probably Rhynchodercetis ), and a single row of teeth on the maxillae (with Dercetis , Benthesikyme , Rhynchodercetis , Pelargorhynchus , Dercetoides and Hastichthys ).