Early Cretaceous Freshwater Fish Fauna in Kyushu, Japan

Early Cretaceous Freshwater Fish Fauna in Kyushu, Japan 243
Province and the Mesoclupea-Huaskia fauna in the Zhejiang Province at the early stage
of Early Cretaceous, and Paralycoplera-Tonghuaichlhys-Huashia fauna in the Jiling Prov
ince and the Paralycoptera-Pingolepis-Huashia fauna in the Zhejiang Province at the
early to middle stage of the Early Cretaceous. The Nipponamia-Aokiichthys fauna is
related to the faunas of the early to middle stage of Early Cretaceous in China on the
basis of its resemblance in composition.
Paraleptolepis-Wakinoichthys fauna has a family, Chuhsiungichthiidae, in common
with the Mesoclupea assemblage, but there is no similarity between the fauna at the
level of genera and species. Diplomystus-Wakinoichthys fauna has a genus, Yungkangich
thys, in common with the Mesoclupea assemblage, but other members are quite
different. The Paraleptolepis-Wakinoichthys and Diplomystus-Wakinoichthys faunas differ
from the Mesoclupea assemblage (Tab. 9). The Paraleptolepis-Wakinoichthys and Di
plomystus-Wakinoichthys faunas are considered to be endemic.
Comparison with other Cretaceous freshwater fish faunas in the world.
There are several freshwater fish faunas from the Lower Cretaceous in the world.
In Spain, nineteen species belonging to 13 families and 10 orders are described from
the Lower Cretaceous sediments of Las Hoyas and Montsec (Poyato-Ariza and
Wenz, 1990; Sanz et al., 1988). The family Amiidae and the genus Lepidotes are
common to the Las Hoyas and Montesech fauna and the Wakino fish fauna. The
elasmobranch order Hybodontiformes, the primitive halecostome orders Pycnodontiformes
and Macrosemiiformes, the primitive teleostean orders Pholidophoriformes
and Elopiformes, and Coelacanthiformes are present in the Las Hoyas and Montsec
fauna, but they are absent in the Wakino fish fauna. The orders Ichthyodecti
formes, Osteoglossiformes and Clupeiformes are present in the Wakino fish fauna,
but they are absent in the Las Hoyas and Montsec fish fauna.
The Wealden freshwater fish fauna in Belgium has an order, Amiiformes, and a
genus, Lepidotes, common to the Wakino fish fauna. But the Wealden fish fauna is
characterized by the existence of the chondrostean family Coccolepididae and an
abundance of amiiform fish in number of species (Traquair, 1911). The order
Osteoglossiformes which is abundant in the Wakino fish fauna is absent in the
Wealden fauna.
The fish fauna of Koonwarra in Australia is composedof 6 species belonging to 5
families and 5 orders (Waldman, 1971). The order Clupeiformes is common to the
Koonwarra fish fauna and the Wakino fish fauna. However, the chondrostean
family Coccolepididae and the primitive teleostean order Pholidophoriformes are
present in the Koonwarra fauna and the existence of the lungfish family Ceratodontidae
is characteristic of the Koonwarra fauna. These families and orders are absent
in the Wakino fish fauna. The order Osteoglossiformes is absent in the Koonwarra
fauna.
The fish fauna of the Cocobeach Series of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in