Fanjingshania

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Fanjingshania
Temporal range: Llandovery, 439  Ma
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Fanjingshania.jpg
Fossil specimen, pectoral girdle
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Acanthodii
Order: Climatiiformes
Genus: Fanjingshania
Plamen S. Andreev, 2022
Species:
F. renovata
Binomial name
Fanjingshania renovata
Plamen S. Andreev, 2022

Fanjingshania is an extinct genus of "acanthodian" stem-chondrichthyans from the lower Silurian (late Aeronian, Llandovery Epoch) of China around 439 million years old, making it currently the oldest known acanthodian. It comprises a single species, Fanjingshania renovata which is known from over 1,000 isolated elements, including fin spines, branchiostegal plates, sclerotic plates, trunk scales, and tectal and postorbital tesserae. No teeth were ascribed to the taxon, but in the same horizon the tooth taxon Qianodus was found, and these taxa may be synonymous. In a phylogenetic analysis accompanying the description, it was placed in a clade with Climatius, Parexus, and Ptomacanthus. [1]

References

  1. Andreev, Plamen S.; Sansom, Ivan J.; Li, Qiang; Zhao, Wenjin; Wang, Jianhua; Wang, Chun-Chieh; Peng, Lijian; Jia, Liantao; Qiao, Tuo; Zhu, Min (September 2022). "Spiny chondrichthyan from the lower Silurian of South China" . Nature. 609 (7929): 969–974. Bibcode:2022Natur.609..969A. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05233-8. PMID   36171377. S2CID   252570103.

Further reading