| Priscacara Temporal range:Eocene | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Priscacara serrata | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Acanthuriformes |
| Family: | Moronidae |
| Genus: | †Priscacara Cope, 1877 |
| Species | |
| |
Priscacara, is agenus of extincttemperate bass[1] described fromEarly toMiddle Eocene fossils. It is characterized by a sunfish-like body and its stout dorsal and anal spines. The genus is best known from theGreen River Formation of Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. Mass deaths ofPriscacara suggest it formed schools.
Thetype species ofPriscacara isP. serrata, described from theholotype specimen, AMNH 2442.[2] Two species are described from northwestern North America. Hesse (1936) describedPriscacara campi from a single complete fossil found in the Middle EoceneRoslyn Formation of central Washington.[3] A third species,Priscacara aquilonia was described by Wilson (1977) from theEarly Eocene "Horsefly shale" ofBritish Columbia.[4]
A phylogenetic review ofPriscacara by Whitock (2010) recognized only two species,P. serrata andP. liops.[1]
Cockerellites liops, holotype USNM 4044[5] had been placed inPriscacara asP. liops but is now considered a separate genus.[6]C. liops is the most common species ofPriscacara within the Green Riverlacustrine deposits and at certain locations it outnumbersP. serrata by over 3:1. The two species differ in the number of dorsal and anal fin rays, as well as possibly a coarser serrated rear edge of the preopercle inP. serrata.C. liops also has small conical teeth on the pharyngeal jaw, whereasP. serrata has large grinding toothplates, suggesting a diet of snails and crustaceans.[7]
Priscacara fossils are commonly preserved in the Fossil Lake deposits of Eocene age in westernmost Wyoming, but are rare in the coeval Lake Gossiute sediments of Wyoming and the Lake Uinta deposits of Utah and Colorado. The genus also occurs in the middle Eocene lake deposits of Washington and British Columbia.
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