Bananogmius
Bananogmius is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish that was found in what is now North America and Europe during the Late Cretaceous, from the Cenomanian to the Santonian. It lived in the Western [Interior Seaway], which split North America in two during the Late Cretaceous, as well as the proto-North Sea of Europe.
Taxonomy
The original name for this genus was Anogmius Edward [Drinker Cope|Cope], 1871, which was described with the type species A. contractus. Shortly afterwards, Cope synonymized the genus with Pachyrhizodus, only to revive it in 1877 for species such as A. aratus, A. favirostris, and A. evolutus. Cope's synonymy of this genus with Pachyrhizodus was variously accepted or rejected for several decades, until 1940 when the new genus Bananogmius was proposed to contain all members of Anogmius aside from the type species, which was assumed to be a synonym of Pachyrhizodus. Further analysis of Cope's description of the original Anogmius contractus confirms that it was a plethodid and not a pachyrhizodontid, but this specimen was too fragmentary for a proper diagnosis and is now lost, leaving Bananogmius as the valid name.The following species are known:
- †B. aratus - Turonian to Santonian of the Niobrara Chalk in Kansas, USA
- †B. favirostris - Turonian to Santonian of the Niobrara Chalk in Kansas, USA
- †B. ellisensis Fielitz & Shimada, 1999 - Turonian of the Carlile Shale in Kansas, USA
- †B. ornatus - Cenomanian of England, Cenomanian/Turonian of Germany