Cometicercus

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Cometicercus
Cometicercus.png
An artists concept of Cometicercus.
Scientific classification
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Cometicercus
Type species
Cometicercus talimaaae
Wilson & Caldwell, 1998

Cometicercus is an extinct genus of furcacaudiform thelodont which lived in the Northwest Territories of Canada during the Early Devonian period. It hails from the MOTH locality in the Mackenzie Mountains. It is only known from its caudal fin and parts of its dorsal surface, including its dorsal fin. [1] The scales of Cometicercus likely served an anti-parasite role, similar to modern sharks which form large groups and cruise at slow to medium speeds. [2] [3]

References

  1. Wilson, Mark V. H.; Caldwell, Michael W. (1998-04-10). "The Furcacaudiformes: a new order of jawless vertebrates with thelodont scales, based on articulated Silurian and Devonian fossils from northern Canada". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (1): 10–29. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011031. ISSN   0272-4634. JSTOR   4523870.
  2. Ferrón, Humberto G.; Botella, Héctor (2017). "Squamation and ecology of thelodonts". PLOS ONE. 12 (2) e0172781. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1272781F. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172781 . PMC   5328365 . PMID   28241029.
  3. Ferrón, Humberto G; Martínez-Pérez, Carlos; Turner, Susan; Manzanares, Esther; Botella, Héctor (2018). "Patterns of ecological diversification in thelodonts". Palaeontology. 61 (2): 303–315. doi:10.1111/pala.12347. hdl: 10550/85568 .