''Prototroctes modestus'' is an extinct species of

bony fish Osteichthyes ( ; ), also known as osteichthyans or commonly referred to as the bony fish, is a Biodiversity, diverse clade of vertebrate animals that have endoskeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondricht ...

in the family

Retropinnidae The Retropinnidae are a family of bony fishes that contains the Southern Hemisphere smelts and graylings. They are the only members of the suborder Retropinnoidei. They are closely related to the northern smelts ( Osmeroidei), which they greatly ...

. It existed in what is now New Zealand in the early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

epoch. It was described by Werner Schwarzhans, R. Paul Scofield, Alan J. D. Tennyson, Jennifer P. Worthy and Trevor H. Worthy in 2012.

References

modestus Miocene fish Fish described in 2012 Fossil taxa described in 2012 Cenozoic fish of Oceania Fish of New Zealand {{Osmeriformes-stub