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The origin of the largest modern vertebrate group, the Teleostei, saw major refinements in the last decades, thanks to newly discovered and stratigraphically closely spaced Triassic Lagerstätten. Here we report the oldest Pholidophoriformes (stem teleosts) that were collected during a large scale yet detailed excavation of Upper Ladinian (Middle Triassic) marine deposits in Xingyi City, Guizhou Province, China. Taxonomic comparisons support the erection of a new pholidophorid genus, Malingichthys gen. nov., with two species. The new genus shows a partially fused skull roof, a preopercular bone with a hockey-stick shape and, for the first time in Pholidophoridae, supraneural elements. Most Triassic marine vertebrate clades (fishes and reptiles, Malingichthys included) first emerged in the South China Block, with Late Ladinian most showing an important faunal transformation that was strengthened by our last findings. The material here described is about 2 million years older than the previous records for pholidophorids.

A new actinopterygian genus and species, Chaohuperleidus primus gen. n. n. sp., is described from the Upper Member of the Nanlinghu Formation (Spathian, Olenekian, Early Triassic) at Majiashan (Majia Hill), Chaohu City, Anhui Province, Southeast China. The new taxon is assigned to the order Perleidiformes on the base of a combination of features: large wedge-like preoperculum with expanded infraorbital process and sensory canal running almost vertical along the posterior margin of the preoperculum itself, flank scalessomewhat higher than longer in the trunk region and presence of epaxial rays in the caudal fin.AmongPerleidiformes, the new taxonbelongsto thePerleididae, being very similar to Perleidus in the general body shape, pattern of the skull bones, the dentitionmade of peg-like marginal teeth,and number of epaxial rays. The new genus is characterized by the presence of a very large antero-dorsal process on the suboperculum, a high number (about 55) of transversal scale rows and dorsal and anal fin quite posterior. Chaohuperleidus gen. n., beingSpathianin age,represents the oldest record of the order Perleidiformes.

Two well preserved specimens of Fuyuanperleidus dengi Geng et al., 2012 are described from the Upper Member of the Guanling Formation (Pelsonian, Anisian, Middle Triassic) in Luoping County, Yunnan Province, South China. The attribution to Perleidiformes is confirmed according to a combination of features such as the general skull pattern, with the large preoperculum showing a prominent infraorbital process, the maxilla with deep posterior region and a dentition made of long and stout peg-like teeth with an acuminate apex, the deep mid-lateral flank scales and the caudal fin with epaxial fin rays. However, this taxon shows an unique arrangement of the squamation (here considered as autapomorphy) given by the insertion of several scales in each vertical row posterior to the pelvic fin, just below the scales carrying the lateral line, when their depth decreases abruptly. Owing to this unique character, and in spite of the very recent description of this genus, the authors considered necessary the erection of a new family, Fuyuanperleididae offering also new insights on the evolutionary trends and morphological specializations of the “subholosteans”. A cladistic analysis of the well known perleidiformes, with this taxon included, supports a possible monophyly of the order, and matches well the paleobiogeographic relationships of the Gondwana fresh-water taxa. The specialized deep-bodied Gondwana and Tethyan perleidiformes are independently evolved, ascertained by the parsimony analysis.