Lepisosteidae, Cuvier, 1825

Brand, Nickolas A., Heckert, Andrew B., Sanchez, Israel, Foster, John R., Hunt-Foster, Rebecca K. & Eberle, Jaelyn J., 2022, New Late Cretaceous microvertebrate assemblage from the Campanian-Maastrichtian Williams Fork Formation, northwestern Colorado, USA, and its paleoenvironmental implications, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 67 (3), pp. 579-600 : 588-589

Lepisosteidae gen. et sp. indet.

Material.— MWC 8223 , scales; from the Campanian– Maastrichtian , Williams Fork Formation, J &M site, northwest Colorado, USA .

Description.—Lepisosteid scales are rhomboid-shaped, possess thick bony bases beneath the external ganoin layer, and retain a distinctive sheen when not significantly weathered.

Remarks.— The most common scales found at the J&M site are also relatively large (≥ 2 mm in maximum dimen- sion), rhomboid scales with thick bony bases beneath the exterior ganoin layer that we assign to Lepisosteidae indet. Lepisosteid scales are a common component of Upper Cretaceous microvertebrate assemblages ( Estes 1964; Grande 2010), and are widespread among estuarine deposits of the Late Cretaceous ( Case and Schwimmer 1988).