The Eocene electric ray †Titanonarke Carvalho, 2010 from the Bolca Konservat-Lagerstätte, north-eastern Italy, is redescribed in detail based upon new material from recent excavations. This taxon exhibits a combination of features (large voids between the pectoral and the axial skeleton filled in life by electric organs, anteriorly directed fan-shaped antorbital cartilages, lack of dermal denticles, long prepelvic processes, and rounded basibranchial copula with a small caudal tab) that clearly supports its assignment to the order Torpediniformes. The analysis of new material also demonstrates that the previous apparent absence of typical narcinoid characters used to diagnose †Titanonarke was the result of taphonomic biases. †Titanonarke shares at least three synapomorphies (presence of a rostral fontanelle, low number of ribs, and rostral cartilage connected to the antorbital cartilage through lateral appendices) with the extant genera Benthobatis, Diplobatis, Discopyge and Narcine, with which it forms a clade (family Narcinidae) recognized herein as unquestionably monophyletic. Moreover, based upon a single specimen of †Titanonarke that exhibits a unique combination of morphometric and meristic features, a new species of Eocene numbfish, †T. megapterygia sp. nov., is recognized. The presence of several specimens representing different ontogenetic stages of at least two species of numbfishes suggests a close association of this taxon with shallow-water habitats corresponding to coral reefs as hypothesized for the Monte Postale palaeoenvironment. The occurrence of a fossilized marine batoid embryo is reported here for the first time. Moreover, the analysis of the gut contents suggests that the dietary adaptations of †Titanonarke can be related, at least in part, to an opportunistic strategy in the context of abundant larger foraminifera in the Monte Postale palaeobiotope, suggesting that this kind of feeding mode, known to occur in present-day reefs, already was realized 50 million years ago.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EDD6E170-CA64-4FFB-8DD1-AED2D61D5504

始新世电鳐 † Titanonarke Carvalho，2010 年出土于意大利东北部 Bolca Konservat-Lagerstätte，根据最近发掘的新材料进行了详细的重新描述。该分类单元表现出多种特征的组合（胸肌和中轴骨骼之间的大空隙被电器官充满，向前定向的扇形眶软骨，缺乏真皮小齿，长的骨盆前突起，以及带有小尾翼的圆形基鳃系结） ）明确支持其归属于鱼形目。对新材料的分析还表明，之前用于诊断 † Titanonarke的典型麻醉药特征的明显缺失是埋藏学偏差的结果。† Titanonarke与现存的Benthobatis 属、Diplobatis 属、Discopyge 属和Narcine属具有至少三个共源性（存在头侧囟门、肋骨数量少、头侧软骨通过外侧阑尾与眶前软骨相连），并与它们形成一个分支（水仙科（Narcinidae））在本文中被认为无疑是单系的。此外，基于 † Titanonarke的单个标本，该标本表现出形态测量和分生特征的独特组合，始新世麻鲽鱼的新物种 † T. megapterygia sp。十一月，被认可。代表至少两种麻鱼的不同个体发育阶段的几个标本的存在表明，该分类单元与对应于蒙特邮政古环境假设的珊瑚礁的浅水生境有密切的联系。这里首次报道了海洋蝙蝠胚胎化石的出现。此外，对肠道内容物的分析表明，† Titanonarke的饮食适应可能至少部分与 Monte Postale 古生物位中丰富的较大有孔虫的机会主义策略有关，这表明这种喂养模式，已知存在于当今的珊瑚礁中，5000万年前就已被认识到。

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EDD6E170-CA64-4FFB-8DD1-AED2D61D5504