Turkmenidae is an extinct
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
lamprids from the
Paleogene
The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...
of the west-central Asia, in what was formerly the Peri-
Tethys Ocean
The Tethys Ocean ( ; ), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era and early-mid Cenozoic Era. It was the predecessor to the modern Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Eurasia ...
. They were small, disk-shaped fish that bore a strong resemblance to their closest living relatives, the
opahs.
''
Turkmene'' and ''
Danatinia'' are found in the
Thanetian
The Thanetian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS Geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Serie ...
epoch (of the
Paleocene
The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...
) sections of the
Danata Formation of Turkmenistan. ''
Analectis'' is found in
Late Oligocene
The Chattian is, in the geologic timescale
The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the pro ...
strata in
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...
, Russia. After the extinction of ''
Analectis'', Turkmenidae disappears from the fossil record.
References
Further reading
* K. A. Monsch and A. F. Bannikov. 2011. New taxonomic synopses and revision of the scombroid fishes (Scombroidei, Perciformes), including billfishes, from the Cenozoic of territories of the former USSR. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 102(4):253-300
†
Paleocene first appearances
Oligocene extinctions
Paleogene animals of Asia
Paleontology in Turkmenistan
{{Lampriformes-stub