Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 107, November 2013, pp. 30-38.

30

† Macropomoides palaestina Khalaf, 2013 : A
New Coelacanth Fish Fossil Species from the
Anthracothere Hill in Al-Naqab, Palestine
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By: Prof. Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher
Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa
Abstract: A new fossil species of Coelacanth Fish from the Early
Miocene of the genus Macropomoides (Class Sarcopterygii, Subclass
Crossopterygii, Order Coelacanthiformes, Suborder Latimerioidei,
Family Latimeriidae) was found at the Anthracothere Hill in Al-Naqab
(Negev), Palestine. The new fossil species is distinguished from the
Lebanese Coelacanth fossil species Macropomoides orientalis by its
slightly different skeletal, skull and fin features. It is morphologically a
distinct species. The new species was named † Macropomoides
palaestina Khalaf, 2013.

A new fossil species of Coelacanth Fish from the Early Miocene of the genus
Macropomoides
(Class
Sarcopterygii,
Subclass
Crossopterygii,
Order
Coelacanthiformes, Suborder Latimerioidei, Family Latimeriidae) was found at the
Anthracothere Hill in Al-Naqab (Negev), Palestine. It belongs to the Family
Latimeriidae and therefore closely related to the living coelacanth Latimeria.
The new fossil species is distinguished from the Lebanese Coelacanth fossil
species Macropomoides orientalis Woodward, 1942 by its slightly different skeletal,
skull and fin features. It is morphologically a distinct species. The new species
was named † Macropomoides palaestina Khalaf, 2013.
Naomi F. Goldsmith and Ilana Yanai-Inbar (1997) from the Blaustein Institute
and Pathology Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev wrote in the
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: “Using Latimeria chalumnae as reference for
the fish fossils found at Anthracothere Hill in the Negev (south) of Israel, we test
B. Schaeffer's 1977 theorem {Differences in the histology and gross form of the
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 107 – November 2013