FOUR NEW BASAL ACANTHOMORPH FISHES FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS OF MOROCCO

Four new species of acanthomorph fishes are described, and three are named, from the Agoult locality of Morocco, which samples early Late Cretaceous marine deposits of the Akrabou Formation. Of the three new named species, two represent members of the subfamily Aipichthyoidea, based on possession of a caudal fin skeleton with a short, broad, neural spine on the second preural centrum, 19 principal caudal fin rays, and three supraneurals positioned close together in front of the first neural spine. The third named species is placed in the Polymixiiformes based on having a caudal fin with a long, full neural spine on the second preural centrum, and 18 principal caudal fin rays. The fourth species is too poorly preserved to name, but we describe the few details that are visible, and it remains incertae sedis within Acanthomorpha. These new taxa add to the diversity of morphologies seen in both the aipichthyoids and the polymixiiforms during the Cenomanian and Turonian throughout the Tethys Sea.