Pleuropholis germinalis n. sp., a new Pleuropholidae (Neopterygii, Teleostei) from the Early Cretaceous of Bernissart, Belgium

The Barremian–Aptian (Cretaceous) locality of Bernissart, Belgium, yielded an assemblage of various actinopterygians. Among them, is the pleuropholid Pleuropholis germinalis n. sp., initially described as Pleuropholis sp. by Traquair at the beginning of the 20th century. Here, P. germinalis n. sp. is revised and fully described, and its assignment to pleuropholids confirmed. This new species is supported by a novel combination of characters, i.e. a robust preopercle with the horizontal limb as wide and high as the vertical limb, an entirely smooth posterior edge of the preopercle, a preopercular canal at equal distance from the dorsal and ventral borders of the preopercle ventral branch (autapomorphy of P. germinalis n. sp.), a short and upturned maxilla, a leptolepid notch in the median-dorsal part of the dentary, the quadrato-mandibular articulation lying anteriorly to the orbit, and a smooth posterior edge of flank scales.