Archaeus

Archaeus Temporal range: Early Eocene to Early Oligocene, 56.0–28.1 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
A. glarisianus & "A. brevis"
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Carangiformes
Family:	Carangidae
Genus:	†Archaeus Agassiz, 1844
Type species
Archaeus glarisianus Agassiz 1844
Species
See text
Synonyms
Archaeoides Rath 1859

Archaeus (Greek for "ancient one") is an extinct genus of marine jackfish from the Paleogene of Europe, where it inhabited the former Tethys Ocean. The oldest species, A. oblongus is from the early Ypresian epoch of Eocene Turkmenistan, and the last species, A. glarisianus and A. solus, are from the early to middle Rupelian, of the Matt Formation of Canton Glarus, Switzerland and the Pshekha Formation of North Caucasus, Russia.^[1][2]

In life, Archaeus species would have resembled a small trevally, though, Archaeus had a proportionally smaller mouth, and larger eyes, and the tail was more fan-shaped, rather than crescent-shaped.

The following species are known:^[1][2]

• A. glarisianus Agassiz, 1844 (Early Oligocene of Switzerland and Germany)
• A. oblongus Daniltshenko, 1968 (Early Eocene of Danata Formation, Turkmenistan)
• A. solus Bannikov & Erebakan, 2023 (Early Oligocene of North Caucasus, Russia)^[2]

The former species A. brevis is no longer considered valid. A specimen of A. glarisianus from the Oligocene of Abkhazia is now thought to represent an extinct species of Caranx, C. daniltshenkoi.^[2]

• Catalogue of the fossil fishes in the British museum (Natural history) [1]
• PROKOFIEV Artém M. The Late Paleocene fish fauna of Turkmenistan

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