Lepidotidae

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Lepidotidae
Temporal range: Early Jurassic–Early Cretaceous
2013-03 Naturkundemuseum Berlin Dickschupperfisch Scheenstia maximus anagoria.jpg
Fossil of Scheenstia maximus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lepisosteiformes
Family: Lepidotidae
Owen, 1860
Genera

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Lepidotidae is an extinct family of fish, known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Most species were originally assigned to the genus Lepidotes which was long considered a wastebasket taxon. Cladistic analysis has indicated that they are close relatives of gars, with both being members of the order Lepisosteiformes. Members of the family are known from both marine and freshwater environments. [1] Their bulky body morphology and small median fins suggests that they were slow-moving fish that were capable of performing fine movements in order to grasp prey. [2] Lepidotes sensu stricto had peg-like grasping marginal teeth and crushing palatal teeth, and is known to have consumed small crustaceans, [3] while Scheenstia had low rounded crushing marginal teeth, indicating a durophagous diet. [4]

Taxonomy

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semionotiformes</span> Extinct order of fishes

Semionotiformes is an order of ray-finned fish known from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) to the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian). Their closest living relatives are gars (Lepisosteidae), with both groups belonging to the clade Ginglymodi within the Holostei. The group includes both freshwater (Semionotidae) and marine adapted forms. Many members of the family Macrosemiidae, have elongated dorsal fins, often associated with an adjacent area of skin which was free of scales. These fins were likely undulated for use in precision swimming. The body morphology of macrosemiids suggests that they were slow swimmers that were capable of maneuvering around complex topography, such as reef environments.

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<i>Lepidotes</i> Genus of fishes (fossil)

Lepidotes is an extinct genus of Mesozoic ray-finned fish. It has long 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". with dozens of species assigned to it. Fossils attributed to Lepidotes have been found in Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks worldwide. It has been argued that Lepidotes should be restricted to species closely related to the type species L. gigas, which are only known from the Early Jurassic of Western and Central Europe, with most other species being not closely related, with other species transferred to new genera such as Scheenstia.Lepidotes belongs to Ginglymodi, a clade of fish whose only living representatives are the gars (Lepisosteidae). The type species L. gigas and close relatives are thought to be members of the family Lepidotidae, part of the order Lepisosteiformes within Ginglymodi, with other species occupying various other positions within Ginglymodi.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ginglymodi</span> Clade of ray-finned fishes

Ginglymodi is a clade of ray-finned fish containing modern-day gars (Lepisosteidae) and their extinct relatives, including the family Lepidotidae and the orders Semionotiformes and Kyphosichthyiformes, and various other extinct taxa. Ginglymodi is one of the two major subgroups of the infraclass Holostei, the other one being Halecomorphi, which contains the bowfin and its fossil relatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ctenacanthiformes</span> Extinct order of cartilaginous fishes

Ctenacanthiformes is an extinct order of elasmobranch fish. They possessed ornamented fin spines at the front of their dorsal fins and cladodont-type dentition, that is typically of a grasping morphology, though some taxa developed cutting and gouging tooth morphologies. Some ctenacanths are thought to have reached sizes comparable to the great white shark, with body lengths of up to 7 metres (23 ft) and weights of 1,500–2,500 kilograms (3,300–5,500 lb). Ctenacanths are typically thought to have existed from the Devonian to the Late Permian, becoming extinct in the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Members of the family Ctenacanthidae may have survived into the Cretaceous based on teeth found in deep water deposits of Valanginian age in France and Austria, however, other authors contend that the similarity of these teeth to Paleozoic ctenacanths is only superficial, and they likely belong to neoselachians instead. The monophyly of the group has been questioned, with some studies recovering the group as a whole as paraphyletic or polyphyletic.

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Dapediidae is an extinct family of neopterygian ray-finned fish that lived from the Late Triassic to Late Jurassic. It is the only family of the order Dapediiformes. Its members were historically placed within the ginglymodian family Semionotidae, but were moved to their own family in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coccolepididae</span> Extinct family of fish

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Obaichthyidae is an extinct family of ginglymodian ray-finned fish that lived in what is now Africa and South America during the Cretaceous period. It was erected in 2010 by Lance Grande to include the genera Dentilepisosteus and Obaichthys. In 2012, it was defined as a stem-based taxon containing all taxa more closely related to Obaichthys than to the genera Lepisosteus, Pliodetes or Lepidotes. Obaichthyids were close relatives of the modern gars of the family Lepisosteidae, with the two groups making up the superfamily Lepisosteoidea.

References

  1. Cavin, Lionel; Deesri, Uthumporn; Olive, Sébastien (2020-03-18). "Scheenstia bernissartensis (Actinopterygii: Ginglymodi) from the Early Cretaceous of Bernissart, Belgium, with an appraisal of ginglymodian evolutionary history". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (6): 513–527. doi:10.1080/14772019.2019.1634649. ISSN   1477-2019. S2CID   199631685.
  2. Cawley, John J.; Marramà, Giuseppe; Carnevale, Giorgio; Villafaña, Jaime A.; López‐Romero, Faviel A.; Kriwet, Jürgen (February 2021). "Rise and fall of †Pycnodontiformes: Diversity, competition and extinction of a successful fish clade". Ecology and Evolution. 11 (4): 1769–1796. doi:10.1002/ece3.7168. ISSN   2045-7758. PMC   7882952 . PMID   33614003.
  3. Thies, Detlev; Stevens, Kevin; Stumpf, Sebastian (2021-06-03). "Stomach contents of the Early Jurassic fish † Lepidotes Agassiz, 1832 (Actinopterygii, Lepisosteiformes) and their palaeoecological implications". Historical Biology. 33 (6): 868–879. doi:10.1080/08912963.2019.1665040. ISSN   0891-2963. S2CID   203892069.
  4. Leuzinger, Léa; Cavin, Lionel; López‐Arbarello, Adriana; Billon‐Bruyat, Jean‐Paul (January 2020). Smith, Andrew (ed.). "Peculiar tooth renewal in a Jurassic ray‐finned fish (Lepisosteiformes, † Scheenstia sp.)". Palaeontology. 63 (1): 117–129. doi: 10.1111/pala.12446 . ISSN   0031-0239.