Redescriptions of <i>Birgeria acuminata</i> (Agassiz, 1835) and <i>Saurichthys</i> sp. (Actinopterygii) fossils from the British Rhaetian, and redundancy of the genus <i>Severnichthys</i> Storrs, 1994

The bone beds were deposited under high energy conditions, resulting in vast quantities of fragmentary and disarticulated vertebrate fossils, including actinopterygian teeth named by Louis Agassiz in 1835 as holotypes of <i>Birgeria acuminata</i> and <i>Saurichthys longidens</i>.

Some of these were later misinterpreted as remains of temnospondyl tetrapods, based on enamel infolding (plicidentine) seen in cross sections of the bases of the teeth. They were recognized later to be fossils of large fish, but the two were merged under the name <i>Severnichthys acuminatus</i>, encompassing isolated conical teeth of <i>Saurichthys</i> and robust dentitions of <i>Birgeria</i>. Here, we present a novel <i>Saurichthys</i> rostropremaxilla from the European Rhaetian.