First fossil records of silversides (Teleostei: Atheriniformes) from the Middle Pleistocene of Buenos Aires province, Argentina

Abstract

This paper presents the fossil remains of silversides recovered in sedimentary sequences corresponding to Centinela del Mar district Bonaerian Stage-Age (Middle Pleistocene), Buenos Aires province, Argentina. The few only previously described fossil silversides are restricted to three Chilean and Argentinean Miocene localities. The silversides studied here present several diagnostic osteological characters that allow us to refer the remains to the genus Odontesthes. These records give us new data on the composition of the pleistocenic ictiofaunas of Argentina, besides representing the first fossil records of silversides from the Pampean region.