''Araripichthys'' is an extinct genus of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

that lived from the

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

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 ...

stages of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

period. The genus is named after the

Araripe Basin The Araripe Basin () is a rift basin covering about ,Neto et al., 2013, p.1 in Ceará, Piauí and Pernambuco states of northeastern Brazil. It is bounded by the Patos and Pernambuco lineaments, and is situated east of the Parnaíba Basin, south ...

, where it was found in the Crato and

Santana Formation The Santana Group is a geologic group, formerly included as the middle part of the Araripe Group, in the Araripe Basin of northeastern Brazil. The group comprises the Crato, Ipubi and Romualdo Formations and is dated to the Aptian to Albian s ...

s. Other fossils of the genus have been found at Goulmima in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, the Tlayua Formation of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and the Apón Formation of

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. It contains the following species: * ''A. axelrodi'' -

of Venezuela * ''A. castilhoi'' -

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

of Brazil * ''A. corythophorus'' -

Turonian The Turonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, the second age (geology), age in the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch, or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Upper Cretaceous series (stratigraphy), ...

of Morocco * ''A. weberi'' - Albian of Mexico Based on the stratigraphy and location of these fossils, it has been suggested that ''Araripichthys'' originated in what is now either the Pacific or Caribbean region in the early Cretaceous, and dispersed eastwards to the Tethyan region, where it survived until later in the Cretaceous. Its taxonomic relationships still remain uncertain. An affinity to the genera '' Ferrifrons'' and '' Acanthichthys'' from the Late Cretaceous of North America has been suggested by some studies.

References

Prehistoric teleostei Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Cretaceous bony fish Aptian genus first appearances Albian genera Turonian genera Cenomanian genera Coniacian genus extinctions Late Cretaceous fish of Africa Cretaceous Morocco Fossils of Morocco Early Cretaceous fish of North America Cretaceous Mexico Fossils of Mexico Cretaceous fish of South America Early Cretaceous fish of South America Crato Formation Romualdo Formation Cretaceous Venezuela Fossils of Venezuela Fossil taxa described in 1985 {{Cretaceous-fish-stub