Tetrapturus Rafinesque, 1810

Gracia, Carlos De, Correa-Metrio, Alex, Carvalho, Monica, Velez-Juarbe, Jorge, P ̆ rik, Tom ́ a ̆ s, , Carlos Jarami & Kri, nd Jurgen, 2022, Towards a unifying systematic scheme of fossil and living billfishes (Teleostei, Istiophoridae), Journal of Systematic Palaeontology (2091959) 20 (1), pp. 1-36 : 22

Genus Tetrapturus Rafinesque, 1810

Tetrapturus sp.

( Fig. 12B, C)

Material. Rostrum Nǫ 1, which Barbolani di Montauto (1910) figured on pl. 1, figs 1, 2.

Occurrence. Late Pliocene of Orciano Formation, Pisa, Italy.

Remarks. Unfortunately, the single specimen was not directly available for this study and the description provided here is based on the published figures by Barbolani di Montauto (1910). The specimen is a distal, nearly complete and 300 mm long rostrum fragment with weathered dorsal surface ( Figs 12B, C). Only the premaxillae are preserved, the prenasals are completely missing and represented only by the distal grooves ( Fig. 12B). The proximal portion of 100–150 mm is missing. The preserved portion is very slender and oval in cross-section at 0.5 L and 0.25 L ( Fig. 12B, C). The distal tip is slender and pointed with denticles preserved for about 50 mm of its length. The rostrum is completely covered with denticles laterally and ventrally ( Fig. 12B, C) ( Barbolani di Montauto 1910; Schultz 1987; Fierstine 1990).