{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossilrange|50|38.0|Late Ypresian to Bartonian<ref name="sepkoskidb">{{cite journal|last=Sepkoski |first=Jack |title=A compendium of fossil marine animal genera |journal=Bulletins of American Paleontology |volume=363 |pages=1–560 |year=2002 |url=http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |accessdate=2009-02-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723131237/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |archivedate=2011-07-23 }}</ref>}} | image = Eotetraodon pygmaeus.jpg | image_caption = Reconstruction of ''E. pygmaeus'' | taxon = Eotetraodon | authority = Tyler, 1980 | type_species = {{extinct}}''Tetraodon pygmaeus'' | type_species_authority = de Zigno, 1887 | subdivision = * †''E. gornylutshensis'' <small>Bannikov & Tyler, 2012</small> * †''E. pygmaeus'' <small>(de Zigno, 1887)</small> * †''E. tavernei'' <small>Tyler & Bannikov, 2012</small> }}
'''''Eotetraodon''''' ("dawn ''Tetraodon''") is an extinct genus of miniature prehistoric pufferfish that lived in Europe from the early to mid-late Eocene. It is the earliest pufferfish known from fossil remains.<ref name="sepkoskidb"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36295 |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=paleobiodb.org}}</ref>
The following species are known:
* †'''''E. gornylutshensis''''' <small>Bannikov & Tyler, 2008</small> - mid-late Eocene (Bartonian) of the North Caucasus, Russia (Kuma Formation)<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Bannikov |first1=A. F. |last2=Tyler |first2=J. C. |year=2008 |title=A new species of the pufferfish ''Eotetraodon'' (Tetraodontiformes, Tetraodontidae) from the Eocene of the Northern Caucasus |journal=Paleontological Journal |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=526–530 |bibcode=2008PalJ...42..526B |doi=10.1134/S0031030108050080 |s2cid=84830626}}</ref> * †'''''E. pygmaeus''''' <small>(de Zigno, 1887)</small> (type species) - early Eocene of Italy (Monte Bolca lagerstatten)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Geology |first1=British Museum (Natural History) Department of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtEKAQAAIAAJ |title=Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History): Actinopterygian Teleostomi of the suborders Isospondyli (in part), Ostariophysi, Apodes, Percesoces, Hemibranchii, Acanthopterygii, and Anacanthini |last2=Woodward |first2=Arthur Smith |date=1901 |publisher=order of the Trustees |language=en}}</ref> * †'''''E. tavernei''''' <small>Tyler & Bannikov, 2012</small> - early Eocene of Italy (Monte Bolca lagerstatten)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tyler |first1=James C. |last2=Bannikov |first2=Alexandre F. |date=2012 |title=A NEW SPECIES OF PUFFER FISH, ''EOTETRAODON TAVERNEI'', FROM THE EOCENE OF MONTE BOLCA, ITALY (TETRAODONTIDAE, TETRAODONTIFORMES) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266089056 |journal=Studi e Ricerche sui Giacimenti Terziari di Bolca |issue=XIV}}</ref>
As the name of the type species suggests, ''Eotetraodon'' was a very small fish that (depending on the species) reached only {{Convert|17.5 to 20.1|mm|in}}. Despite this very small size, fossil specimens are fully ossified, suggesting that they are of adult individuals.<ref name=":0" />
Although generally considered an early pufferfish, some recent studies have placed it as part of an evolutionary grade, containing several other Bolca tetraodontiforms, leading to the threetooth puffer (''Triodon''), a different tetraodontiform fish.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ridolfi |first1=Lorenzo |last2=Marramà |first2=Giuseppe |last3=Tyler |first3=James |last4=Carnevale |first4=Giorgio |date=2025-01-31 |title=A NEW FOSSIL CLARIFIES THE ANATOMY AND PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF THE EOCENE GYMNODONT FISH †ZIGNOICHTHYS OBLONGUS (ZIGNO, 1874) |url=https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/23409 |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia |language=en |volume=131 |issue=1 |doi=10.54103/2039-4942/23409 |issn=2039-4942|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5381964}}
Category:Tetraodontidae Category:Prehistoric percomorph genera Category:Ypresian genus first appearances Category:Bartonian genus extinctions Category:Eocene fish of Europe Category:Fossils of Italy Category:Fossils of Russia Category:Taxa named by James C. Tyler Category:Fossil taxa described in 1980 {{paleo-tetraodontiformes-stub}}