A new Neopterygian from the Middle Triassic of Luoping County (South China)

A new Neopterygian taxon is described on the bases of very nicely preserved specimens from the recently discovered very rich vertebrate level in Luoping County, Yunnan Province, South China. The age of the new assemblage is Pelsonian (Anisian, Middle Triassic), more or less coeval to the Panxian Fauna from the nearby Guizhou Province. The Luoping Fauna, yielding this new taxon, is proving one of the most important fish faunas from the whole Middle Triassic being furthermore the oldest one witnessing the fish radiation in the Middle Triassic itself. The new species and genus of basal neopterygian is a very specialized one especially in having an almost naked body, with only a single row of urodermals covering the body lobe in the tail and a row of very small and thin scales bearing the lateral line canal along the flank. Also in the axial skeleton the new taxon shows peculiar characters such as the supraneurals perfectly aligned to each paired neural arches and abdominal ribs very well developed. No suborbitals have been detected.