Lepidotes (previously known as Lepidotus) is an extinct genus of semionotid neopterygian ray-finned fish from the Jurassic period (Toarcian age) and Early Cretaceous. Fossils have been found in marine sediments of France, England, and Germany, and in Early Cretaceous sediments of Brazil and Bornholm, Denmark (Jydegaard Formation). Isolated scales from the Late Cretaceous Bahariya Formation (Egypt) have been attributed to Lepidotes and Late Triassic remains from the Fleming Fjord Formation (Greenland) may also belong to Lepidotes. In 1895, many species were assigned to it by Arthur Smith Woodward. They include L. elvensis, L. semiserratus, L. tuberculatus, L. gallineki, L. leedsi, L. latifrons, L. haydeni, L. occidentalis, L. macrocheirus, L. subovatus, L. minor, L. affinis, L. unguiculatus, L. laevis, L. maximus, L. mantelli, L. degenhardti, L. hauchecorni, L. mawsoni, L. notopterus and L.? pustulatus. Numerous additional species have been assigned to it which Woodward considered indistinguishable from others. It has been considered a wastebasket taxon, characterised by "general features, such as thick rhomboid scales and, for most of the species, by semi-tritorial or strongly tritorial dentition."
