Galaxiidae Bonaparte, 1832

Schwarzhans, Werner, Scofield, R. Paul, Tennyson, Alan J. D., Worthy, Jennifer P. & Worthy, Trevor H., 2012, Fish remains, mostly otoliths, from the non-marine early Miocene of Otago, New Zealand, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 57 (2), pp. 319-350 : 324

Family Galaxiidae Bonaparte, 1832

Several galaxiid fish skeletons have been recorded from New Zealand lake sediments from the early to late Miocene of Otago and the Pleistocene of Gisborne (see McDowall 2009, 2010). Of all these finds, only one location has yielded adequate preservation that allowed specific identification— the Foulden Diatomite of the Foulden Maar of early Miocene age ( Lindqvist and Lee 2009). A fossil from this site was described as Galaxias effusus Lee, McDowall, and Lindqvist, 2007 with a size of about 12 cm SL and 14 cm TL, which is towards the smaller size of living galaxiids. The Foulden Diatomite is about 5 My older than the Bannockburn Formation (23 Ma versus 19–16 Ma) and given the specific environment, size and distribution of its occurrence Galaxias effusus is not likely to represent one of the species described here based on otoliths. McDowall and Pole (1997) reported a large specimen of about 38 cm length from the Bannockburn Formation, and McDowall (2010) stated that it is quite unlike any living species, but insufficient detail has been preserved to permit formal description. Additional material from the Bannockburn Formation has been reported by Lee et al. (2007), but McDowall (2010: 22), considers that: “distinct taxa are likely to have been involved though again insufficient detail is present to permit formal description”. It must be assumed though that among these specimens there will be representatives correlating with the otolith−based species described below. A further fossil galaxiid has been described from the late Miocene of the Kaikorai Valley near Dunedin ( Oliver 1936) as Galaxias kaikorai Whitley, 1956 . McDowall (1976) concluded though that the fish from the Kaikorai Valley could not be distinguished from the extant species G. brevipinnis .