A late Cretaceous (Maasteichtian) Galaxiid fish from South Africa

A new teleost fish, Stompooria rogersmithi, is escribed from deposits of a Late Cretaceous crater lake in the Karoo, South Africa. The fossils represent the earliest known species of the recently redefined family Galaxiidae. Distinguishing features include the apposition of the dorsal and anal fins, 41-42 vertebrae, all neural arches anterior to the dorsal fin origin fused to the centre, presence of epineurals, the opercle reduced above the level of the hyomandibular articulation, the posttemporal and supracleithrum without a connection to the seismosensory head canals, 18 principal caudal fin rays, two epurals, five hypurals, no dorsal outgrowth on the uroneural, the neural spines of the second and third preural centra similar in size, and absence of a stegural, a third uroneural, a mesocoracoid, a supramaxilla, and teeth on the maxilla and palatine bones.