Eolophotes

Eolophotes ("dawn Lophotes") is an extinct genus of prehistoric crestfish that inhabited the northeastern Tethys Ocean during the Eocene. It contains a single species, E. lenis, known from the Lutetian-aged Dabakhan Formation of Georgia. It is a diminutive, poorly-known species, but represents the oldest fossil record of the group.^[1][2][3] However, Brownstein & Near (2023) found the Lophotidae to be potentially non-monophyletic, and Eolophotes to be a member of the Taeniosomi with uncertain placement.^[4]

Eolophotes Temporal range: Middle Eocene, Lutetian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
E. lenis holotype, scale bar = 5 mm
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Lampriformes
Family:	Lophotidae
Genus:	†Eolophotes Daniltshenko, 1980
Species:	†E. lenis
Binomial name
†Eolophotes lenis (Daniltshenko, 1962)
Synonyms
†Lophotes lenis Daniltshenko, 1962