| Rhinodipterus | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Subclass: | |
| Genus: | Rhinodipterus |
Rhinodipterus is an extinct genus of prehistoric dipnoan sarcopterygians or lobe-finned fish, that lived in the Devonian Period, between 416 and 359 million years ago. It is believed to have inhabited shallow, salt-water reefs, [1] and is one of the earliest known examples of marine lungfish. Research based on an exceptionally well-preserved specimen from the Gogo Formation of Australia [2] has shown that Rhinodipterus has cranial ribs attached to its braincase and was probably adapted for air-breathing to some degree as living lungfish are. [3] This could be the only case known for a marine lungfish with air-breathing adaptations. [4]
Lungfish are freshwater vertebrates belonging to the class Dipnoi. Lungfish are best known for retaining ancestral characteristics within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and ancestral structures within Sarcopterygii, including the presence of lobed fins with a well-developed internal skeleton. Lungfish represent the closest living relatives of the tetrapods. The mouths of lungfish typically bear tooth plates, which are used to crush hard shelled organisms.
Sarcopterygii — sometimes considered synonymous with Crossopterygii — is a taxon of the bony fishes known as the lobe-finned fishes. The group Tetrapoda, a mostly terrestrial superclass including amphibians, sauropsids and synapsids, evolved from certain sarcopterygians; under a cladistic view, tetrapods are themselves considered a subgroup within Sarcopterygii.
Placodermi is a class of armoured prehistoric fish, known from fossils, which lived from the Silurian to the end of the Devonian period. Their head and thorax were covered by articulated armoured plates and the rest of the body was scaled or naked, depending on the species. Placoderms were among the first jawed fish; their jaws likely evolved from the first of their gill arches.
Ctenurella is an extinct genus of ptyctodont placoderm from the Late Devonian of Germany. The first fossils were found in the Strunde valley in the Paffrather Kalkmulde.
The Gogo Formation in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is a Lagerstätte that exhibits exceptional preservation of a Devonian reef community. The formation is named after Gogo Station, a cattle station where outcrops appear and fossils are often collected from, as is nearby Fossil Downs Station.
The Xitun Formation is a palaeontological formation which is named after Xitun village in Qujing, a location in South China. This formation includes many remains of fossilized fish and plants of the Early Devonian period. It was originally referred to as the Xitun Member of the Cuifengshan Formation.
John Albert Long is an Australian paleontologist who is currently Strategic Professor in Palaeontology at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. He was previously the Vice President of Research and Collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. He is also an author of popular science books. His main area of research is on the fossil fish of the Late Devonian Gogo Formation from northern Western Australia. It has yielded many important insights into fish evolution, such as Gogonasus and Materpiscis, the later specimen being crucial to our understanding of the origins of vertebrate reproduction.
Diplocercides is a genus of prehistoric lobe-finned fish belonging to the coelacanth group which lived during the Late Devonian period. Fossils of Diplocercides have been found in Germany, Iran, Ireland, Australia and Poland. In 2010, three-dimensional fossils of Diplocercides were described from the Gogo Formation of Western Australia
Incisoscutum is an extinct genus of arthrodire placoderm from the Early Frasnian Gogo Reef, from Late Devonian Australia. The genus contains two species I. ritchiei, named after Alex Ritchie, a palaeoichthyologist and senior fellow of the Australian Museum, and I. sarahae, named after Sarah Long, daughter of its discoverer and describer, John A. Long.
Gogodipterus is an extinct genus of prehistoric lungfish in the family Chirodipteridae. It was discovered ar the Late Devonian Gogo Formation of Western Australia.
Ganopristodus is an extinct genus of prehistoric sarcopterygian or lobe-finned fish from the Devonian.
Eoctenodus is an extinct genus of prehistoric sarcopterygian or lobe-finned fish.
Iowadipterus is an extinct genus of prehistoric sarcopterygian or lobe-finned fish.
Namatozodia is an extinct genus of prehistoric lungfish. The genus, and its sole species, Namatozodia pitikanta, are described in Kemp (1993). The only known example of the species and genus is a small skull found in the Arcadia Formation of the Crater, in Western Queensland, Australia. This is an early Triassic formation.
Mioceratodus is an extinct genus of lungfish in the family Neoceratodontidae, which also contains the extant Queensland lungfish. It is known only from Oligocene and Miocene-aged sediments in Australia, although phylogenetic evidence supports it having first diverged from its closest relative, Neoceratodus, during the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous period.
Ptychoceratodus is an extinct genus of lungfish living from Early Triassic to Middle Jurassic. It was established by Otto Jaekel for one species, transferred from Ceratodus genus. Type species is P. serratus from the Middle Triassic of Switzerland and Germany. Ptychoceratodus had two pairs of massive dental plates, bearing 4-6 acute ridges. Its skull roof was composed from massive, plate-like bones. In the central part of skull roof was localized an unossified fenestra. Most of the Ptychoceratodus findings are isolated dental plates, some associated with jaws. Other parts of skull or postcranial skeleton are relatively rarely found as fossils. The anatomy of skull is the best recognized in P. serratus, whereas less complete cranial material is available also for P. concinuus, P. phillipsi, and P. rectangulus. Although Ptychoceratodus is known exclusively from the Triassic and Jurassic, there were also Cretaceous specimens referred to this genus. However, they are more often regarded as representants of Metaceratodus. Ptychoceratodus is the only member of the family Ptychoceratodontidae. The first named species is P. phillipsi by Louis Agassiz in 1837 as a species of Ceratodus and later moved to Ptychoceratodus genus. Occurrences of Ptychoceratodus come mainly from Europe. However, occurrences from other continents suggest it was dispersed globally during the Triassic. After 2010, the new fossil material behind the Europe was reported from South America, India, and Greenland
Pillararhynchus is an extinct genus of prehistoric sarcopterygians or lobe-finned fish.
Xeradipterus is an extinct genus of lungfish which existed in Australia during the Frasnian period. Of moderate size, it is believed to be a primitive member of the family Holodontidae characterized by its powerful crushing dentition with thick heels on the lower jaw tooth plates. The type and only specimen was found in the Gogo Formation by Lindsay Hatcher on an expedition to Gogo led by John A. Long on behalf of Museum Victoria in 2005.
Laccognathus embryi is an extinct species of porolepiform lobe-finned fish recovered from Ellesmere Island, Canada. It existed during the Frasnian age of the Late Devonian epoch.
The evolution of fish began about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion. It was during this time that the early chordates developed the skull and the vertebral column, leading to the first craniates and vertebrates. The first fish lineages belong to the Agnatha, or jawless fish. Early examples include Haikouichthys. During the late Cambrian, eel-like jawless fish called the conodonts, and small mostly armoured fish known as ostracoderms, first appeared. Most jawless fish are now extinct; but the extant lampreys may approximate ancient pre-jawed fish. Lampreys belong to the Cyclostomata, which includes the extant hagfish, and this group may have split early on from other agnathans.
| |||||||||||||
 | This article about a prehistoric lobe-finned fish is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
