Taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus Eosemionotus (Neopterygii, Holostei): insights into theevolutionary history of modern fishes

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After a period of dominance of molecular phylogenetics, neglecting the role of palaeontology in systematics, and a subsequent time of discussions in the framework of the so-called molecules vs morphology controversy, evolutionary biologists now start to understand the need of integrating fossil taxa in phylogenetic analyses and macroevolutionary studies. To do so, Total Evidence analyses, including both molecular and morphological data of living and fossil taxa, are needed. However, this is a challenging and difficult task due to the lack of detailed morphological study of many important taxa. It has been demonstrated that increasing the amount of morphological data (both characters and taxa) is necessary to optimize cladistic analyses of Total Evidence data matrices. In this context, any detailed morphological study and cladistic analysis of fossil taxa, especially those representing extinct lineages within clades with an extensive fossil record and only few living representatives (e.g. Holostei), are urgently needed. Within this context, the present project is proposed to complete a detailed morphological and cladistic study of the Triassic neopterygian Eosemionotus. The study will be based on recently collected and extraordinarily well preserved specimens of Eosemionotus from the Cassina and Sceltrich beds of the Meride Limestone (Ladinian) of the Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland), as well as the type and referred material of the only two species so far named in this genus: E. vogeli from the lowermost Muschelkalk (Anisian) of Förderstedt bei Bernsburg (Germany) and E. ceresiensis from the Besano Formation (Anisian-Ladinian) of the Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland). The project is thus expected to provide new morphological and phylogenetic data to improve our understanding of the early evolution of neopterygians.