''Eoanabas'' ("dawn '' Anabas''") is an extinct genus of climbing gourami that inhabited southern Asia during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

. It contains a single species, ''E. thibetana'' from the

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 ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. Fossils were found at above sea level, but the species appears to have inhabited a subtropical freshwater environment above sea level dominated by palms and golden rain trees, suggesting that the cold, dry Tibetan Plateau was originally much more warm and humid during the Oligocene, prior to further uplift of the Himalayas and an increased cooling trend. The presence of ''Eoanabas'' during the Late Oligocene confirms that anabantids likely originated in Southeast Asia during the Eocene, and then dispersed to the Indian subcontinent and Africa afterwards.

References

Anabantidae {{paleo-rayfinned-fish-stub Monotypic prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Prehistoric percomorph genera Chattian genera Oligocene fish of Asia Fossils of China Paleontology in Tibet Fossil taxa described in 2016