AN AFRICAN TWIN TO THE BRAZILIAN CALAMOPLEURUS (ACTINOPTERYGII, AMIIDAE)

A new species of amiid fish, Calamopleurus africanus sp. nov., is desc ribed on the basis of fragmentary material from ?Albian Kem Kem beds o f southern Morocco. The new species shows several derived characters o f the genus Calamopleurus such as ossified dermopterotic ribs, an infe rred loose association between the dermosphenotic and the skull roof, a gular plate with a scalloped posterior margin, and a hyomandibular w ith a very long posterior (opercular) process. It differs from the typ e species in the proportions of the frontals, supramaxilla and gular. The distribution of Calamopleurus and some other Lower Cretaceous fish es is discussed in the context of the presumed adjacency of west Afric a and eastern Brazil during much of the Mesozoic. (C) 1997 The Linnean Society of London.