Middle Pleistocene gurnard (Teleostei, Triglidae) remains from the Crotone Basin, Southern Italy

An incomplete neurocranium of a gurnard is described from the middle Pleistocene shoreface deposits of the San Mauro Marchesato area, in the Crotone Basin, southern Italy. The specimen is characterized by having several features that support its assignment to the extant triglid species Aspitrigla cuculus, including the presence of an elongate and narrow preorbital portion of the neurocranium, the structure, ornamentation, and relative development of the cranial bones, and the greatly reduced interorbital width. The material documented in this paper is the first representative of the species A. cuculus, and more generally of the genus Aspitrigla, recorded up to date as fossil. Based on its ecological requirements, the occurrence of A. cuculus in the Pleistocene of the San Mauro Marchesato area, seems to be consistent with the results of the paleoenvironmental interpretation derived from the stratigraphic and sedimentological studies.