Gymnarchidae Bleeker 1859
Creators: name: Hilton, Eric J.
name: Lavoué, Sébastien
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Actinopterygii
Osteoglossiformes
Gymnarchidae

description: Gymnarchidae. A single species, <i>Gymnarchus niloticus</i>, is included in this family (Fig. 7), and is found distributed throughout tropical Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia in the Ghazal and Jebel systems, White Nile, and Nile River to Lake Nasser (Sudan) in northeast Africa, and in the Gambia, Senegal, Niger, Volta, Ouémé and Chad rivers of western Africa (Azeroual <i>et al.</i>, 2010). It has an elongate, cylindrical body with a broadly rounded head and a dorsal fin that runs most of the length of its body; anal, caudal, and pelvic fins are lacking. It reaches 1.67 m in length and 18.5 kg (Bigorne, 1990). Its osteology has been described by Taverne (1972), and aspects of its skeleton are illustrated by Benveniste (1994). Fossil remains identified as <i>Gymnarchus</i> are known from several localities throughout central and northern Africa (<i>e.g</i>., Pliocene deposits of Chad, Otero <i>et al</i>., 2009), including the Late Eocene Birket Qarun Formation in Egypt (Murray <i>et al.</i>, 2010), which is the oldest record of the family. Gymnarchidae is broadly considered to be the sister group of Mormyridae (Taverne, 1979, 1998; Bonde, 2008; classified as a subfamily of Mormyridae in some classifications, <i>e.g</i>., Greenwood, 1971; Lauder, Liem, 1983), although in most analyses and classifications it is not explicitly coded for, being subsumed into the supraspecific terminal group Mormyroidea (<i>e.g</i>., Li, Wilson, 1996a; Wilson, Murray 2008) or left uncoded (<i>e.g</i>., Hilton, 2003; Zhang, 2006). Although she did not designate it as a monotypic family, Benveniste (1994) recovered <i>Gymnarchus</i> as the sister-group of <i>Petrocephalus</i> + Mormyrinae. In this study, several unambiguous autapomorphies were identified distinguishing <i>Gymnarchus</i> from other mormyroids (absence of a supraoccipital crest, absence of basibranchial toothplates, absence of the first pharyngobranchial, absence of supraneurals, absence of the caudal fin, a dorsal fin with more than 100 fin rays, absence of an anal fin, a small posttemporal bone formed primarily by the ventral limb, the condition of having the <i>m. posterior intermandibularis</i> absent and the <i>m. interhyoideus</i> present); <i>Gymnarchus</i> also has an edentulous parasphenoid, although this is homoplastically found within Osteoglossomorpha in <i>Heterotis</i> and some mormyrids (Benveniste, 1994).
description: Published as part of <i>Hilton, Eric J. &amp; Lavoué, Sébastien, 2018, A review of the systematic biology of fossil and living bony-tongue fishes, Osteoglossomorpha (Actinopterygii: Teleostei), pp. 1-35 in Neotropical Ichthyology 16 (3)</i> on page 7, DOI: 10.1590/1982-0224-20180031, http://zenodo.org/record/3709903
description: {"references": ["Azeroual A, Entsua-Mensah M, Getahun A, Laleye P, Moelants T, Vreven E. 2010. Gymnarchus niloticus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species [Internet]; 2010 [cited 2018 Feb 12]: e. T 181688 A 7706153. Available from: http: // dx. doi. org / 10.2305 / IUCN. UK. 2010 - 3. RLTS. T 181688 A 7706153. en", "Bigorne R. Mormyridae. In: Leveque C, Paugy D, Teugels GG, editors. Faune des poissons d'eaux saumatres d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Tome 1. Tervuren: Musee Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, and Paris: ORSTOM; 1990. p. 122 - 184.", "Taverne L. Osteologie des genres Mormyrus Linne, Mormyrops Muller, Hyperopisus Gill, Myomyrus Boulenger, Stomatorhinus Boulenger et Gymnarchus Cuvier. Considerations generales sur la systematique des Poissons de l'ordre des Mormyriformes. Ann Musee Roy Afr Centr Sci Zool. 1972; 200: 1 - 194.", "Benveniste L. Phylogenetic systematic of Gymnarchus (Notopteroidei) with notes on Petrocephalus (Mormyridae) of the Osteoglossomorpha. [Masters Thesis]. New York City, NY: The City College of New York; 1994.", "Otero O, Pinton A, Mackaye HT, Likius A, Vignaud P, Brunet M. First description of a Pliocene ichthyofauna from Central Africa (site KL 2, Kolle area, Eastern Djurab, Chad): What do we learn?. J Afr Earth Sci [serial on the Internet]. 2009; 54 (3 - 4): 62 - 74. Available from: https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. jafrearsci. 2009.03.004", "Murray AM, You HL, Peng C. A New Cretaceous osteoglossomorph fish from Gansu Province, China. J Vertebr Paleontol [serial on the Internet]. 2010; 30 (2): 322 - 32. Available from: https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 02724631003621961", "Taverne L. Osteologie, phylogenese et systematique des teleosteens fossiles et actuels du super ordre des Osteoglossomorphes. Troisieme partie. Evolution des structures osteologiques et conclusions generales relatives a la phylogenese et a la systematique du super ordre. Acad Roy Belg Mem Cl Sci. 1979; 43 (3): 1 - 168. (Collection 8, Serie 2)", "Taverne L. Les Osteoglossomorphes marins de. l'Eocene du Monte Bolca (Italie): Monopteros Volta 1796, Thrissopterus Heckel, 1856 et Foreyichthys Taverne, 1979. Considerations sur la phylogenie des Teleosteens osteoglossomorphes. Stud Ric Giacimenti Terziari Bolca. 1998; 7: 67 - 158.", "Bonde N. Osteoglossomorphs of the marine Lower Eocene of Denmark - with remarks on other Eocene taxa and their importance for palaeobiogeography. In: Cavin L, Longbottom A, Richter M, editors. Fishes and the Break-up of Pangea. London: Geological Society; 2008. p. 253 - 310. (Special Publications; 295).", "Greenwood PH. Hyoid and ventral gill arch musculature in osteoglossomorph fishes. Bull Brit Mus (Nat Hist) Zool. 1971; 22 (1): 1 - 55.", "Lauder GV, Liem KF. The evolution and interrelationships of the actinopterygian fishes. Bull Mus Comp Zool. 1983; 150 (3): 95 - 197.", "Li G-Q, Wilson MVH. Phylogeny of Osteoglossomorpha. In: Stiassny MLJ, Parenti LR, Johnson GD, editors. Interrelationships of fishes. New York: Academic Press; 1996 a. p. 163 - 174.", "Wilson MVH, Murray AM. Osteoglossomorpha: phylogeny, biogeography, and fossil record and the significance of key African and Chinese fossil taxa. In: Cavin L, Longbottom A, Richter M, editors. Fishes and the Break-up of Pangea. London: Geological Society; 2008. p. 185 - 219. (Special Publications; 295).", "Hilton EJ. Comparative osteology and phylogenetic systematics of fossil and living bony-tongue fishes (Actinopterygii, Teleostei, Osteoglossomorpha). Zool J Linn Soc [serial on the Internet]. 2003; 137 (1): 1 - 100. Available from: https: // doi. org / 10.1046 / j. 1096 - 3642.2003.00032. x", "Zhang J-Y. Phylogeny of Osteoglossomorpha. Vert PalAs. 2006; 44 (1): 43 - 59."]}