{{Short description|Genus of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|Early Eocene|recent}} | image = Australian bass 2.jpg | image_caption = Australian bass (''P. novemaculeatus'') | taxon = Percalates | authority = Ramsay & Ogilby, 1887 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * ''P. colonorum'' * ''P. novemaculeatus'' * †''P. antiquus'' (fossil) }}
'''''Percalates''''' (from ''Perca'' + ''Lates'') is a genus of ray-finned fish native to both estuarine and freshwater habitats of southeastern Australia. They are the only members of the suborder '''Percalatoidei''', and of their own undescribed family ('Percalatidae').<ref name=":0">{{Catalog of Fishes |genid=7408|title=Percalates Ramsay & Ogilby 1887|access-date=2026-05-24}}</ref><ref name=fishbase>{{FishBase|genus=Percalates|access-date=24 May 2026}}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Catalog of Fishes |date=May 2026 |title=ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION |url=https://www.calacademy.org/eschmeyers-catalog-of-fishes-classification |access-date=24 May 2026}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Sanciangco |first1=Millicent D. |last2=Carpenter |first2=Kent E. |last3=Betancur-R. |first3=Ricardo |date=2016-01-01 |title=Phylogenetic placement of enigmatic percomorph families (Teleostei: Percomorphaceae) |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=94 |issue=Pt B |pages=565–576 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.006 |pmid=26493227 |bibcode=2016MolPE..94..565S |issn=1055-7903|doi-access=free }}</ref>
== Description == It contains two species, both of which were previously placed in the temperate perch genus ''Macquaria''. However, more recent phylogenetic studies have found these two species to be the most basal members of the order Centrarchiformes, and thus more distantly related to the temperate perches than previously thought.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Arratia |first1=Gloria |last2=Quezada-Romegialli |first2=Claudio |date=2019-04-25 |title=The South American and Australian percichthyids and perciliids. What is new about them? |journal=Neotropical Ichthyology |language=en |volume=17 |article-number=e180102 |doi=10.1590/1982-0224-20180102 |issn=1679-6225|doi-access=free }}</ref>
The following species are known:<ref name=fishbase/><ref name=cof-genus>{{Catalog of Fishes |genus=Percalates|access-date=2026-05-24}}</ref>
* ''Percalates colonorum'' <small>(Günther, 1863) -</small> estuary perch * ''Percalates novemaculeatus'' <small>(Steindachner, 1866)</small> <small>-</small> Australian bass Well-preserved fossil specimens of the species †''Percalates antiquus'' <small>Hills, 1934</small> (=''Macquaria antiquua'') have been recovered from the Early Eocene-aged Redbank Plains Formation of Queensland, Australia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hills |first1=Edwin Sherbon |last2=Hills |first2=Edwin Sherbon |date=1934 |title=Tertiary fresh water fishes from southern Queensland |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/214960 |journal=Memoirs of the Queensland Museum |volume=10 |pages=157––174}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rix |first=Alan |date=2022 |title=Coal, bees and fossils: The history and significance of the Redbank plains formation fossil sites, south East Queensland |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.237428598989426 |journal=The Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland |volume=131 |pages=131–144 |doi=10.53060/prsq.2022-11 }}</ref> Partial fossil remains from the Lutetian-aged marine Kuldana Formation of Pakistan have also been assigned to this species, albeit based on an older taxonomic treatment of the Percichthyidae.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gayet |first1=M. |last2=De Broin |first2=F. |last3=Rage |first3=J. C. |date=1987 |title=Lower Vertebrates from the Early-Middle Eocene Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan): Holostei and Teleostei, Chelonia, and Squamata |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/48528 |journal=Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, the University of Michigan |hdl=2027.42/48528 |language=en-US}}</ref> Many other fossil remains assigned to this genus are also known the Oligocene and Miocene of Australia, though it is uncertain whether they belong to this genus or to ''Macquaria''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Australian freshwater fish fossils with occurrence during Tertiary |url=https://www.peter.unmack.net/biogeog/html/appendices/appendixi.html |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=www.peter.unmack.net}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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Category:Centrarchiformes Category:Actinopterygii genera Category:Extant Ypresian first appearances