Hyneria

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Hyneria
Temporal range: Famennian
Hyneria.jpg
Life restoration of H. lindae
Gessetal2023 Hyneria udlezinye skull.png
Skull reconstruction of H. uldezinye
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Sarcopterygii
Clade: Tetrapodomorpha
Clade: Eotetrapodiformes
Family: Tristichopteridae
Genus: Hyneria
Thomson, 1968
Type species
Hyneria lindae
Thomson, 1968
Other species
  • H. udlezinyeGess and Ahlberg, 2023

Hyneria is a genus of large prehistoric predatory lobe-finned fish which lived in fresh water during the Famennian stage of the Devonian period. [1] [2]

Contents

Etymology

The genus name Hyneria is a reference to the village of Hyner, Pennsylvania, near where the first specimen was found. The species epithet H. lindae is derived from the name of the wife of Keith Stewart Thomson, who described this fish. [3]

Description

Hyneria was a large fish. H. lindae is estimated around 2.5–3 metres (8.2–9.8 ft) in total length. [3] [4] The largest complete jaw reaches 38 centimetres (15 in), but there is much larger fragment possibly from a jaw about twice that length, although that specimen may belong to a rhizodont instead. [5] Assuming this jaw fragment does pertain to Hyneria, and assuming proportions similar to more complete tristichopterids, it suggests H. lindae could possibly reach lengths up to 3.5 metres (11 ft). [6] A second species, H. uldezinye, was once estimated as having a length of between 2 and 4 metres (6.6 and 13.1 ft) before being described. [7] However, the species description estimates that the largest specimen belongs to an animal about 2.7 metres (8.9 ft). [2] Its skull had heavy, ornamented dermal bones and its lower jaw was relatively long and shallow. The teeth were stout, with those of the premaxilla forming fangs upwards of 5 cm (2 in). [3] [1] Its body was covered by cycloid scales. [1] [8] It had large sensory canals to aid in detection of possible prey, as the freshwater environment it inhabited likely was murky and had low visibility. [8] Adult individuals retained juvenile features (i.e. partially unossified skeletons), suggesting that they were likely neotenic. [9]

Discovery

Holotype specimen of H. uldezinye Gessetal2023 Hyneria udlezinye holotype.png
Holotype specimen of H. uldezinye

The original fossils came from two localities in Pennsylvania, United States, one found between the villages of North Bend and Hyner and another near Emporium. They consisted of a disarticulated partial skull and fragments of the shoulder girdle. [3] The fossils were found in the Catskill Formation of the Red Hill Shale, dating to the upper Devonian. [1] These were the only remains known until 1993 when a renewed collecting effort discovered abundant new material. [1] Hyneria is considered the largest and most common lobe-finned fish found in the Red Hill Shale. [10] In February 2023 a second species of Hyneria, H. udlezinye, was named from remains discovered in the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte. These remains include the skull and shoulder girdle. [2]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Eusthenopteron</i> Extinct genus of tetrapodomorphs

Eusthenopteron is a genus of prehistoric sarcopterygian fishes known from several species that lived during the Late Devonian period, about 385 million years ago. It has attained an iconic status from its close relationship to tetrapods. Early depictions of animals of this genus show them emerging onto land, but paleontologists now widely agree that eusthenopteron species were strictly aquatic animals.

<i>Hynerpeton</i> Extinct genus of tetrapodomorphs

Hynerpeton is an extinct genus of early four-limbed vertebrate that lived in the rivers and ponds of Pennsylvania during the Late Devonian period, around 365 to 363 million years ago. The only known species of Hynerpeton is H. bassetti, named after the describer's grandfather, city planner Edward Bassett. Hynerpeton is known for being the first Devonian four-limbed vertebrate discovered in the United States, as well as possibly being one of the first to have lost internal (fish-like) gills.

<i>Bothriolepis</i> Diverse genus of placoderm fishes of the Devonian

Bothriolepis was a widespread, abundant and diverse genus of antiarch placoderms that lived during the Middle to Late Devonian period of the Paleozoic Era. Historically, Bothriolepis resided in an array of paleo-environments spread across every paleocontinent, including near shore marine and freshwater settings. Most species of Bothriolepis were characterized as relatively small, benthic, freshwater detritivores, averaging around 30 centimetres (12 in) in length. However, the largest species, B. rex, had an estimated bodylength of 170 centimetres (67 in). Although expansive with over 60 species found worldwide, comparatively Bothriolepis is not unusually more diverse than most modern bottom dwelling species around today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristichopteridae</span> Extinct family of tetrapodomorphs

Tristichopterids (Tristichopteridae) were a diverse and successful group of fish-like tetrapodomorphs living throughout the Middle and Late Devonian. They first appeared in the Eifelian stage of the Middle Devonian. Within the group sizes ranged from a few tens of centimeters (Tristichopterus) to several meters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhizodontida</span> Extinct order of tetrapodomorphs

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fram Formation</span> Geologic formation in Nunavut, Canada

The Fram Formation is an Upper Devonian (Frasnian) sequence of rock strata on Ellesmere Island that came into prominence in 2006 with the discovery in its rocks of examples of the transitional fossil, Tiktaalik, a sarcopterygian or lobe-finned fish showing many tetrapod characteristics. Fossils of Laccognathus embryi, a porolepiform lobe-finned fish, and Qikiqtania, a close relative of Tiktaalik, were also found in the formation. The Fram Formation is a Middle to Upper Devonian clastic wedge forming an extensive continental facies consisting of sediments derived from deposits laid down in braided stream systems that formed some 375 million years ago, at a time when the North American craton ("Laurentia") was straddling the equator.

<i>Mandageria</i> Extinct genus of tetrapodomorphs

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Onychodus is a genus of prehistoric lobe-finned fish which lived during the Devonian Period. It is one of the best known of the group of onychodontiform fishes. Scattered fossil teeth of Onychodus were first described from Ohio in 1857 by John Strong Newberry. Other species were found in Australia, England, Norway and Germany showing that it had a widespread range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Daeschler</span> American paleontologist

Edward B. 'Ted' Daeschler is an American vertebrate paleontologist and Associate Curator and Chair of Vertebrate Biology at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. He is a specialist in fish paleontology, especially in the Late Devonian, and in the development of the first limbed vertebrates. He is the discoverer of the transitional fossil tetrapod Hynerpeton bassetti, and a Devonian fish-like specimen of Sauripterus taylori with fingerlike appendages, and was also part of a team of researchers that discovered the transitional fossil Tiktaalik.

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<i>Tristichopterus</i>

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<i>Laccognathus</i> Extinct genus of fishes

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Daeschler, EB; Shubin, NH (2007). "New data on Hyneria lindae (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Late Devonian of Pennsylvania, USA". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (S3). doi:10.1080/02724634.2007.10010458.
  2. 1 2 3 Gess, Robert W.; Ahlberg, Per E. (2023-02-22). "A high latitude Gondwanan species of the Late Devonian tristichopterid Hyneria (Osteichthyes: Sarcopterygii)". PLOS ONE. 18 (2): e0281333. Bibcode:2023PLoSO..1881333G. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281333 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   9946258 . PMID   36812170.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Thomson, K. S. (1968). "A new Devonian fish (Crossopterygii: Rhipidistia) considered in relation to the origin of the Amphibia". Postilla. 124.
  4. Daeschler, Edward B.; Downs, Jason P. (2018-05-04). "New description and diagnosis of Hyneria lindae (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian Catskill Formation in Pennsylvania, U.S.A." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 38 (3): e1448834. Bibcode:2018JVPal..38E8834D. doi:10.1080/02724634.2018.1448834. ISSN   0272-4634. S2CID   89661336.
  5. Young, Ben; Dunstone, Robert L.; Senden, Timothy J.; Young, Gavin C. (2013-03-06). "A Gigantic Sarcopterygian (Tetrapodomorph Lobe-Finned Fish) from the Upper Devonian of Gondwana (Eden, New South Wales, Australia)". PLOS ONE. 8 (3): e53871. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...853871Y. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053871 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   3590215 . PMID   23483884.
  6. Engelman, Russell K. (March 2023). "A Devonian Fish Tale: A New Method of Body Length Estimation Suggests Much Smaller Sizes for Dunkleosteus terrelli (Placodermi: Arthrodira)". Diversity. 15 (3): 318. doi: 10.3390/d15030318 . ISSN   1424-2818.
  7. Gess, R.W.; Whitfield, A.K. (2020). "Estuarine fish and tetrapod evolution: insights from a Late Devonian (Famennian) Gondwanan estuarine lake and a southern African Holocene equivalent". Biological Reviews. 95 (4): 865–888. doi:10.1111/brv.12590. PMID   32059074. S2CID   211122587.
  8. 1 2 "25 years of fossil collecting yields clearest picture of extinct 12-foot aquatic predator". ScienceDaily. 7 May 2018.
  9. Kamska, V.; Daeschler, E.B.; Downs, J.P.; Ahlberg, P.E.; Tafforeau, P.; Sanchez, S. (2019). "Long-bone development and life-history traits of the Devonian tristichopterid Hyneria lindae". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Cambridge University Press. 109 (1–2): 75–86. doi:10.1017/S175569101800083X. ISSN   1755-6910. S2CID   134090370.
  10. "The Missing Link". Nova. Season 29. Boston. February 26, 2002. PBS. Transcript: "The Missing Link".