Abstract
Dactylopteridae are marine fishes distributed in tropical and subtropical waters composed of two genera: Dactyloptena, in the Indian Ocean and western and central Pacific Ocean, and Dactylopterus, in the eastern and western Atlantic. Here, we describe the first fossil species from the Atlantic found in the Late Miocene Chagres Formation of Panama. Through morphological comparisons using micro-CT scans and two-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis, we demonstrate that the specimen represents a new species of Dactylopterus. The paleoenvironmental characterization based on petrographic thin sections analyzed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), the geochemical data, and associated microfossil assemblages integrated with an assessment of the environmental data from extant species indicate that this extinct species evolved in a deep-water environment. The finding of †Dactylopterus decrozi n. sp. shows that the genus was already established along the Atlantic margin by the Late Miocene. Current hypotheses propose that dactylopterids colonized the Atlantic through the Tethys Seaway during the Middle Miocene, but our new evidence supports an alternative vicariant scenario associated with the formation of the Panamanian Isthmus. This result is consistent with the previously inferred divergence age of 10.9 Ma that links with the shallowing of the Central American Seaway (CAS).
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Acknowledgements
The Dirección de Recursos Minerales of Panama provided collecting permits. We thank the Natural History Museum of Basel (NHMB), the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN), the Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) for access to the specimens/species studied here. We thank Evariste Monvoisin, Jonathan Blettery, and Pauline Provini from the project e-Col+, and Jonathan Pfliger and Zouhaira Gabsi from the MNHN ichthyological collection. Thanks are due to Carlos Jaramillo from the Smithsonian Tropical Research for field trip support and valuable discussions. We thank Loic Costeur, Danae Thivaiou, Ana Paula Linhares, Maria Virginia Antunes, Mariana Lopes, Lismar Guevara, Lorran Farias do Nascimento, Joelma Lobo, Bernardo Decat Weinschutz, and Daniel Lucena da Silva for valuable assistance.
Funding
This research was funded by the Brazilian Council of Science and Technological. Development (CNPq, INCT_INAIS grant 424498/2025-1) and CNPq productivity fellowships (grant 314225/2021 to R.T.L., and 304693/2021-9 to O.A.), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ E-26/201.035/2021 to O.A.; FAPERJ E-26/200.063/2019, and SEI-260003/001172/2023 to P.A,.B., SEI-260003/012800/2021 to Y.T.X.), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, (CAPES 88887.476179/2020-00 to O.O.A), PETROBRAS (0050.0129649.24.9 to Y.T.X.), e-COL+ Valorisation des données naturalistes received financial support from the French government under the management of the National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) as part of the Investments for the Future Program, France 2030, reference ANR-21-ESRE-0053. The field work was funded by the Program for Young Researchers (Grant No. APY-N110-016 A to C.D.G.). Research Activity of Carlos De Gracia is being funded by the Sistema Nacional de Investigación (SNI), Dr. Marcelle Willock grant and International Movility (MOV-2024-11) economic subsidy contract DDCCT No. 002-2025 from the Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología of Panamá (SENACYT).
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Aguilera, O., De Gracia, C., Rodriguez, F. et al. Vicariant establishment of Dactylopterus in the western Atlantic linked to shallowing of Central American Seaway (CAS).
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-47283-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-47283-2
Keywords
- Panamanian isthmus
- Paleogeography
- MicroCT
- Flying gurnard
- Vicariance
- Evolution
Source: Ecology - nature.com
