FIRST RECORD OF GARS (LEPISOSTEIDAE, ACTINOPTERYGII) ON MADAGASCAR - LATE CRETACEOUS REMAINS FROM THE MAHAJANGA BASIN

Gars (Lepisosteidae, Actinopterygii) are reported from Madagascar for the first time, from exposures of the Upper Cretaceous (?Campanian) Ma evarano Formation in the Mahajanga Basin, northwestern Madagascar. The material includes relatively common isolated scales, and vertebral ce ntra, teeth, fin rays, and dermal cranial elements, all assigned to Le pisosteus sp. This new record from Madagascar adds to previously docum ented Cretaceous Gondwanan gar occurrences in India, Africa, and South America, as well as in Laurasia. The overall pattern points to a Pang ean distribution in the Cretaceous and a Jurassic or earlier origin fo r the gar clads. The extant endemic fishes of Madagascar are not phylo genetically close to gars or to other Late Cretaceous fishes known fro m the island, suggesting that the ichthyofauna now there likely evolve d from post-Mesozoic colonizers.