Pshekharus yesinorum Bannikov & Kotlyar 2015
Creators: name: Schwarzhans, Werner
name: Klots, Oleksandr
name: Ryabokon, Tamara
name: Kovalchuk, Oleksandr
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Perciformes
Sparidae
Pshekharus
Pshekharus yesinorum

description: Pshekharus yesinorum Bannikov & Kotlyar, 2015
Figures 9d, e, 10a–e
1966 Cantharus? tietzei Schubert, 1906 —Smigielska: pl. 17, fig. 3.
2015 Pshekharus yesinorum —Bannikov & Kotlyar: pl. 10, fig. 1; pl. 11, figs. 1–3 (fig. 2 represents an otolith found in situ).
2022? Pagellus sp. —Brzobohatý, Zahradníkova & Hudáčková: pl. 3, fig. M, N.
Material 3 otoliths: 1 specimen, Kozatskyi Yar NMNHU- P PI 2577, 2 specimens, Shydlivshchyna, NMNHU-P PI 2578; 1 isolated jaw tooth, Mlyntsi, NMNHU-P PI 2588; 4 isolated jaw teeth, Shydlivshchyna, NMNHU-P PI 2589.
Description of otoliths (specimen of Fig. 9d) OL:OH = 1.65. Ventral rim regularly curved, rather smooth; dorsal rim intensely crenulated with pronounced postdorsal angle. Rostrum long, pointed, 21% of OL. Posterior tip pointed at same level as rostrum.
Inner face convex. Sulcus moderately long, deepened, slightly supramedian. OL:SuL = 1.3. Ostium ventrally widened, slightly shorter than cauda; cauda slightly flexed at tip. OsL:CaL = 0.9; OsH:CaH = 1.85. Ventral furrow indistinct, close to ventral rim of otolith; dorsal depression long, narrow, with crista superior to rear part of ostium and anterior part of cauda. Outer face flat to slightly concave, smooth except for some irregular radial furrows.
Description of teeth In addition to otoliths, there is a series of small isolated jaw teeth (Fig. 10a–e) sharing sparid morphology (e.g. Bannikov, 2010; Bannikov & Kotlyar, 2015; Gol’din et al., 2020; Šoster & Kovalchuk, 2016) and tentatively assigned here to Pshekharus yesinorum. Most of these specimens (Fig. 10a–d) represent posterior molariform teeth with symmetrical or partially asymmetrical crowns, which are round at the base and have a smooth surface. Tere is a less-pronounced blunt hook at the tip of one specimen (Fig. 10d). Te specimen NMNHU-P PI 2589/4 (Fig. 10e) represents an anterior tooth, which is narrow conical proximally and flattened distally. Crown width in the specimens considered (0.65– 1.10 mm) is quite similar to each other despite their position in the jaw, while the crown height differs more substantially varying from 0.60 to 0.80 mm for posterior teeth and being equal to 2.0 mm for the anterior tooth.
Discussion Bannikov and Kotlyar (2015) used jaw dentition as a distinguishing character for the definition of their new genus Pshekharus, in particular the long anterior teeth, which are canine-like and cylindrical, such as those figured in Fig. 10e. Te sequence of teeth represented here and their association with otoliths that are similar to the in situ find in P. yesinorum support the allocation of both teeth and otoliths to that species, which was originally described from the early Sarmatian s.l. of Moldova. However, the otoliths tend to be slightly more compressed with a deeper ventral rim (OL:OH =1.65 vs. 1.85–2.05) than those from the Sarmatian s.l. (Bannikov & Kotlyar, 2015), but these differences are considered to represent an expression of variability. Otoliths indicate that P. yesinorum may have been rather widely distributed in the Paratethys in the late Badenian/Konkian and Sarmatian s.l. Specimens identified as Cantharus? tietzei by Smigielska (1966) from the Pre-Carpathian Trough of Poland and? Pagellus sp. by Brzobohatý et. al. (2022) from the Vienna Basin likely represent P. yesinorum.
description: Published as part of Schwarzhans, Werner, Klots, Oleksandr, Ryabokon, Tamara & Kovalchuk, Oleksandr, 2022, A rare window into a back-reef fish community from the middle Miocene (late Badenian) Medobory Hills barrier reef in western Ukraine, reconstructed mostly by means of otoliths, pp. 1-35 in Swiss Journal of Palaeontology (18) (18) 141 (1) on pages 23-24, DOI: 10.1186/s13358-022-00261-3, http://zenodo.org/record/11999827