Oldest known Esox (Pisces: Esocidae), part of a new Paleocene teleost fauna from western Canada

Abstract

Paleocene freshwater teleostean fishes from the Paskapoo and Ravenscrag Formations of Alberta and Saskatchewan, dated as Tiffanian or about 62 Ma old, include pike (Esox) remains twice as old as any previously known. Esox tiemani sp. nov. is an elongate, narrow-snouted pike, indicating that this body form may be primitive for some Recent pike species, and casting doubt on hypotheses of geologically more recent dispersal of pike into North America from Eurasia.The pike remains occur in the Paskapoo Formation with a teleost fauna having Eocene affinities and including osteoglossids, hiodontids, gonorynchids, cyprinoids, percopsids, and asineopids, none of which has previously been recorded from the Paleocene of North America.