Blennius vernyhorovae, Schwarzhans & Klots & Ryabokon & Kovalchuk, 2022

Schwarzhans, Werner, Klots, Oleksandr, Ryabokon, Tamara & Kovalchuk, Oleksandr, 2022, A rare window into a back-reef fish community from the middle Miocene (late Badenian) Medobory Hills barrier reef in western Ukraine, reconstructed mostly by means of otoliths, Swiss Journal of Palaeontology (18) 141 (1), pp. 1-35 : 20

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1186/s13358-022-00261-3
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13127138
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039D7D5B-FE5A-FFB1-FBC8-FF30FF53F932
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Blennius vernyhorovae
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Blennius vernyhorovae n. sp.

Figure 8a, b View Fig

Holotype NMNHU-P PI 2547 , Mlyntsi , western Ukraine, late Badenian, Fig. 8a View Fig .

Paratype 1 otolith, Kozatskyi Yar, NMB P1205.

Etymology Named in honor of Yuliia Vernyhorova (Kyiv, Ukraine), for her many contributions to the better understanding of the stratigraphy of the Eastern Paratethys.

Diagnosis OL:OH = 1.45–1.6. Rostrum moderately long (20–22% of OL), broad, rounded. Cauda small, deepened, terminating distant from posterior tip of otolith. OL:SuL = 1.35–1.4. Collum wide, slightly less deepened than rest of sulcus. Diagonal furrow running from anterior-dorsal rim above antirostrum into upper region of collum. Inner face convex, outer face flat.

Description Small, oval otoliths up to about 1.7 mm in length (holotype 1.65 mm). OH:OT = 2.7–2.9. Ventral rim deeply and regularly curved, deepest anterior of its middle. Rostrum large, with rounded tip, 20–22% of OL. Antirostrum small; excisura wide, not very deep. Dorsal rim irregularly curved and slightly undulating, without distinct angles, highest above middle of otolith. Posterior tip variably rounded, positioned higher than rostrum. All rims smooth.

Inner face distinctly convex with somewhat irregular surface. Sulcus deep, short, distinctly supramedian positioned; OL:SuL = 1.35–1.4. Ostium about twice as wide as cauda; collum slightly narrower than rear part of cauda and slightly less deep. Ventral furrow indistinct, close to ventral rim of otolith. No dorsal depression; dorsal margin of sulcus diffuse above cauda; distinct diagonal furrow running from anterior-dorsal rim above antirostrum into upper region of collum. Outer face flat, smooth.

Discussion Te small otoliths of Blennius vernyhorovae resemble similar-sized otoliths of the extant B. ocellaris Linnaeus, 1758 , from the Mediterranean and northeast Atlantic (see Nolf, 2018; Lombarte et al., 2006 for figures) but differ primarily in the bluntly rounded, massive rostrum, and the furrow from above the antirostrum to the collum.