{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Priabonian|Rupelian|Priabonian to Rupelian}} | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Holocentrites ovalis | authority = Conrad, 1941 | parent_authority = Conrad, 1941 }}
'''''Holocentrites''''' is an extinct genus of prehistoric soldierfish known from the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene of the southeastern United States.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Florida |last2=Florida Geological Survey |last3=Florida State Geological Survey |date=1935–1971 |title=Geological bulletin. |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100715336 |journal=Bulletin. |pages=43 v |issn=0085-0608}}</ref> It is the oldest known soldierfish in the fossil record, and inhabited the Atlantic Ocean off the southern United States, in contrast to modern soldierfish which are restricted to the Indo-Pacific.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Andrews |first1=James V. |last2=Schein |first2=Jason P. |last3=Friedman |first3=Matt |date=2023-01-01 |title=An earliest Paleocene squirrelfish (Teleostei: Beryciformes: Holocentroidea) and its bearing on the timescale of holocentroid evolution |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |volume=21 |issue=1 |article-number=2168571 |bibcode=2023JSPal..2168571A |doi=10.1080/14772019.2023.2168571 |issn=1477-2019 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dornburg |first1=Alex |last2=Moore |first2=Jon |last3=Beaulieu |first3=Jeremy M. |last4=Eytan |first4=Ron I. |last5=Near |first5=Thomas J. |date=2015 |title=The impact of shifts in marine biodiversity hotspots on patterns of range evolution: Evidence from the Holocentridae (squirrelfishes and soldierfishes): SHIFTING BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS AND RANGE EVOLUTION |url=https://academic.oup.com/evolut/article/69/1/146/6851928 |journal=Evolution |language=en |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=146–161 |doi=10.1111/evo.12562 |pmid=25407924 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marramà |first1=G. |last2=Giusberti |first2=L. |last3=Papazzoni |first3=C. A. |last4=Carnevale |first4=G. |date=2021 |title=An Eocene soldierfish (Teleostei: Holocentridae) from Monte Baldo (NE italy) |url=https://iris.unito.it/handle/2318/1827138 |journal=Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana |volume=60 |issue=2 |doi=10.4435/BSPI.2021.12 |doi-broken-date=30 May 2026 }}</ref>
It contains a single known species, '''''H. ovalis''''', known from the Late Eocene-aged Ocala Limestone of Florida<ref name=":0" />, the Early Oligocene-aged Marianna Limestone of Florida & Alabama, and the Early Oligocene-aged Glendon Limestone of Mississippi.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cicimurri |first1=David J. |last2=Stringer |first2=Gary L. |last3=Ebersole |first3=Jun A. |date=2025-08-18 |title=Additional records of Paleogene fishes (Chondrichthyes and Osteichthyes) from Alabama, USA |url=https://journals.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/155954/edition/137133/content |journal=Acta Geologica Polonica |language=pl |pages=60 |doi=10.24425/agp.2025.155954 |doi-access=free |issn=0001-5709}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dunkle |first1=David Hosbrook |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102406593 |title=Description of a Beryciform fish from the Oligocene of Florida |last2=Olsen |first2=Stanley John |date=1959 |publisher=Florida Geological Survey |series=Special publication / Florida Geological Survey ;no. 2:3 |location=Tallahassee, Fla.}}</ref> The type specimen was an articulated partial skeleton found in the Ocala Limestone of what is now Florida Caverns State Park.<ref name=":0" />
==See also== {{Portal|Paleontology|Fish}} * Prehistoric fish * List of prehistoric bony fish
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080430004102/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class Bony fish in the online Sepkoski Database]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5883986}}
{{paleo-rayfinned-fish-stub}} {{beryciformes-stub}} Category:Monotypic prehistoric ray-finned fish genera † Category:Eocene fish of North America Category:Oligocene fish Category:Priabonian genus first appearances Category:Rupelian genus extinctions Category:Fossil taxa described in 1941 Category:Fossils of the United States Category:Fossils of Mississippi