''Daptinus'' is an extinct genus of

ichthyodectid Ichthyodectiformes is an extinct order of marine stem-teleost ray-finned fish. The order is named after the genus '' Ichthyodectes'', established by Edward Drinker Cope in 1870. Ichthyodectiforms are usually considered to be some of the closest r ...

fishes within the subfamily Saurodontinae, from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

(

Coniacian The Coniacian is an age or stage in the geologic timescale. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series and spans the time between 89.8 ± 1 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Coniacian is preceded by ...

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

)

Niobrara Formation The Niobrara Formation , also called the Niobrara Chalk, is a geologic formation in North America that was deposited between 87 and 82 million years ago during the Coniacian, Santonian, and Campanian stages of the Late Cretaceous. It is com ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, that was originally named as a species of ''

Saurocephalus ''Saurocephalus'' (from , 'lizard' and 'head') is an extinct genus of ray-finned fishes within the family Saurodontidae.Maisey, J. G.1991. ''Santana Fossils, an Illustrated Atlas''. New Jersey, T.F.H. Publications Inc., 190–207. The genus ...

'' (''S. phlebotomus'') in 1870 by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontology, paleontologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, herpetology, herpetologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker fam ...

, Cope, E. D. (1870). On the Saurodontidæ. ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 11:529-538 and then became a species of '' Saurodon'' in 1871, but was moved to a separate genus in 1873. Subsequent authors listed ''Daptinus'' as a tentative, possible synonym of ''Saurocephalus'' or ''Saurodon leanus''. O. P. Hay. (1902). Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil

Vertebrata Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Verte ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. ''Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey'' 179:1-868 The holotype, which is probably the only known specimen discovered to date, is

AMNH The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interco ...

1906,Bardack, D. and Sprinkle, G. (1969). Morphology and relationships of saurocephalid fishes. ''

Fieldiana Geology The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

'' 16(12):297-340. which is listed as containing vertebrae (?) and portions of the cranium, the latter including the dentary, maxilla and palate.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q104097144 Ichthyodectidae Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Fossil taxa described in 1870 Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope