Reassessment of Cosmodus Sauvage, 1879, a poorly known genus of large pycnodont fish (Actinopterygii, Pycnodontiformes) from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Western Europe

Romain Vullo (1) , Jean-Pierre Archambeau , Gilles Bailly , Pierre Bénéfice

1 GR - Géosciences Rennes

The large pycnodontiform fish genus Cosmodus Sauvage, 1879 is redescribed on the basis of both historical material and new specimens, and a formal diagnosis is proposed. The vomerine and prearticular dentitions of Cosmodus show a unique combination of characters, including the morphology and ornamentation of the tooth crowns and the number of tooth rows. Cosmodus is thus recognized as a valid distinct genus, restricted to the middle–upper Cenomanian of Western Europe (France, England, Spain, and possibly Germany) and including a single species, C. carentonensis (Coquand, 1859). Cosmodus shares some peculiar dental features with Coccodus (e.g., vomerine dentition with three rows of subtriangular teeth) and is therefore tentatively interpreted as a gigantic member of the Coccodontidae, a family of highly specialized pycnodont fishes so far known only from the middle–upper Cenomanian of Lebanon

Keywords: Pycnodontiformes; Actinopterygii; Coccodontidae; Dentition; Cenomanian; Cosmodus

Domains: Paleontology

Romain Vullo, Jean-Pierre Archambeau, Gilles Bailly, Pierre Bénéfice. Reassessment of Cosmodus Sauvage, 1879, a poorly known genus of large pycnodont fish (Actinopterygii, Pycnodontiformes) from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Western Europe. Cretaceous Research, 2018, 91, pp.217-228. ⟨10.1016/j.cretres.2018.05.019⟩. ⟨insu-01819797⟩