Symmoriiformes

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Symmoriiformes
Temporal range: 382.7–280  Ma
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S
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C
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Late Devonian - Early Permian (Members of the family Falcatidae might have survived until the Early Cretaceous in Europe.)
Symmorium1DB.jpg
Symmorium
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Symmoriiformes
Zangerl, 1981 (sensu Maisey, 2007)
Families and genera

Symmoriiformes is an extinct order of cartilaginous fish. Originally named Symmoriida by Zangerl (1981), [1] the name has since been corrected to Symmoriiformes to avoid confusion with a family. [2] The symmoriiform fossils record begins during the late Devonian, and most had become extinct by the start of the Permian, with the genus Dwykaselachus from the Artinskian-Kungurian of South Africa being the latest known uncontroversial occurrence. [3] Teeth described from the Valanginian of France [4] and Austria [5] indicate that members of the family Falcatidae might have survived until the Early Cretaceous; however, it has since been proposed that these teeth more likely belonged to neoselachian sharks. [6]

Contents

Fossil distribution

Fossil evidence of Symmoriida have been found at Bear Gulch, Fergus County, Montana, [7] Bethel Quarry, Pike County, Indiana, Kinshozan quarry, Alaska, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, Bashkortostan, Russian Federation [8] and possibly also France. [4]

Classification

Symmoriiformes were previously regarded as members of the elasmobranchii, making them distant relatives of living sharks and rays. Zangerl (1981), who erected the order, considered them to be elasmobranchs, [1] and this classification has been followed by some subsequent authors. [9]

The uncrushed braincase of Dwykaselachus indicates that symmoriiforms may be members of holocephali, as much of the internal anatomy, including the otic labyrinth and brain space configuration are similar to those of living chimaeras. [3] Symmoriiformes have alternatively been considered early diverging stem-group chondrichthyans. [4] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chondrichthyes</span> Class of jawed cartilaginous fishes

Chondrichthyes is a class of jawed fish that contains the cartilaginous fish or chondrichthyans, which all have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or bony fish, which have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. Chondrichthyes are aquatic vertebrates with paired fins, paired nares, placoid scales, conus arteriosus in the heart, and a lack of opercula and swim bladders. Within the infraphylum Gnathostomata, cartilaginous fishes are distinct from all other jawed vertebrates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elasmobranchii</span> Subclass of fishes

Elasmobranchii is a subclass of Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fish, including modern sharks, rays, skates, and sawfish. Members of this subclass are characterised by having five to seven pairs of gill slits opening individually to the exterior, rigid dorsal fins and small placoid scales on the skin. The teeth are in several series; the upper jaw is not fused to the cranium, and the lower jaw is articulated with the upper. The details of this jaw anatomy vary between species, and help distinguish the different elasmobranch clades. The pelvic fins in males are modified to create claspers for the transfer of sperm. There is no swim bladder; instead, these fish maintain buoyancy with large livers rich in oil.

<i>Cladoselache</i> Extinct genus of chondrichthyans

Cladoselache is an extinct genus of shark-like chondrichthyan from the Late Devonian (Famennian) of North America. It was similar in body shape to modern lamnid sharks, but was not closely related to lamnids or to any other modern (selachian) shark. As an early chondrichthyan, it had yet to evolve traits of modern sharks such as accelerated tooth replacement, a loose jaw suspension, enameloid teeth, and possibly claspers.

<i>Stethacanthus</i> Extinct genus of cartilaginous fishes

Stethacanthus is an extinct genus of shark-like cartilaginous fish which lived from the Late Devonian to Late Carboniferous epoch, dying out around 298.9 million years ago. Fossils have been found in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America.

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

Xenacanthida is an order or superorder of extinct shark-like chondrichthyans known from the Carboniferous to Triassic. They were native to freshwater, marginal marine and shallow marine habitats. Some xenacanths may have grown to lengths of 5 m (16 ft). Most xenacanths died out at the end of the Permian in the End-Permian Mass Extinction, with only a few forms surviving into the Triassic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear Gulch Limestone</span>

The Bear Gulch Limestone is a limestone-rich geological lens in central Montana, renowned for the quality of its marine fossils from the late Mississippian subperiod, about 324 million years ago. It is exposed over a number of outcrops northeast of the Big Snowy Mountains, and is often considered a component of the more widespread Heath Formation. The Bear Gulch Limestone reconstructs a diverse, though isolated, marine ecosystem which developed near the end of the Serpukhovian age in the Carboniferous period. It is a lagerstätte, a particular type of rock unit with exceptional fossil preservation of both articulated skeletons and soft tissues. Bear Gulch fossils include a variety of fish, invertebrates, and algae occupying a number of different habitats within a preserved shallow bay.

<i>Falcatus</i> Extinct genus of cartilaginous fishes

Falcatus is an extinct genus of falcatid chondrichthyan which lived during the early Carboniferous Period in Bear Gulch bay in what is now Montana.

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

Stethacanthidae is an extinct family of prehistoric sharks. It is estimated to have existed approximately between 380 and 300 million years ago. Members of this family are noted for their peculiar dorsal fin.

<i>Symmorium</i> Extinct genus of cartilaginous fishes

Symmorium is an extinct symmoriiform cartilaginous fish from the Devonian and Carboniferous of the United States (Illinois) and Russia. The type species, Symmorium reniforme, was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1893, with other species assigned to the genus having since been reclassified into other genera such as Petalodus. Symmorium bears close similarity in size and appearance to Stethacanthus but lacks the "spine-brush complex" in place of the first dorsal fin. Some paleontologists think that the two forms represented the males and females of related species, while other scientists think they were distinct genera.

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

Falcatidae is a family of Paleozoic cartilaginous fish belonging to the order Symmoriiformes. Members of this family include Falcatus, a small fish from the Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana. The family first appeared around the start of the Carboniferous, and there is some evidence that they survived well into the early Cretaceous, though its putative Cretaceous members were also argued to be more likely neoselachians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hybodontiformes</span> Extinct order of chondrichthyans

Hybodontiformes, commonly called hybodonts, are an extinct group of shark-like cartilaginous fish (chondrichthyans) which existed from the late Devonian to the Late Cretaceous. Hybodonts share a close common ancestry with modern sharks and rays (Neoselachii) as part of the clade Euselachii. They are distinguished from other chondrichthyans by their distinctive fin spines and cephalic spines present on the heads of males. An ecologically diverse group, they were abundant in marine and freshwater environments during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic, but were rare in open marine environments by the end of the Jurassic, having been largely replaced by modern sharks, though they were still common in freshwater and marginal marine habitats. They survived until the end of the Cretaceous, before going extinct.

<i>Ornithoprion</i> Extinct genus of cartilaginous fishes

Ornithoprion is a genus of extinct cartilaginous fish in the family Caseodontidae. The only species, O. hertwigi, lived during the Moscovian stage of the Pennsylvanian, between 315.2 to 307 million years ago, and is known from black shale deposits in what is now the Midwestern United States. The discovery and description of Ornithoprion, performed primarily via radiography, helped clarify the skull anatomy of eugeneodonts; a group which includes O. hertwigi and which were previously known primarily from isolated teeth. The genus name, which is derived from the ancient Greek órnith- meaning 'bird' and príōn meaning 'saw', was inspired by the animal's vaguely bird-like skull and the saw-like appearance of the lower teeth. The species name honors Oscar Hertwig.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synechodontiformes</span> Extinct order of sharks

Synechodontiformes is an extinct order of prehistoric shark-like cartilaginous fish, known from the Permian to the Paleogene. They are considered to be members of Neoselachii, the group that contains modern sharks and rays.

Ozarcus is an extinct genus of symmoriiform cartilaginous fish from the Carboniferous period of Arkansas. The type species, Ozarcus mapesae, was named in 2014 based on cartilaginous skulls from the Serpukhovian-age Fayetteville Formation. The genus is named after the Ozark Mountains while the species was named after its discoverer, G. K. Mapes.

Adamantina is an extinct genus of jalodont chondrichthyan from the Carboniferous and Permian periods. It is known mainly from isolated teeth and scales. It contains two species, A. foliacea and A. benedictae. The type species, A. benedictae, is known from the Wuchiapingian of east Greenland and the Roadian of the Kanin Peninsula, Russia. A. foliacea is known from the late Tournaisian, late Artinskian, and the early Asselian of Russia and the late Kasimovian of Iowa, United States. There is also a likely occurrence in the upper Pennsylvanian of Brazil.

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

Ctenacanthiformes is an extinct order of cartilaginous 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), while others reached lengths of only 30 centimetres (12 in). The earliest ctenacanths appeared during the Frasnian stage of the Late Devonian, with the group reaching their greatest diversity during the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian), and continued to exist into at least the Middle Permian (Guadalupian). Some authors have suggested 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.

<i>Cretacladoides</i> Extinct genus of fish

Cretacladoides is a genus of chondrichthyan, possibly a falcatid, found in France and Austria. Known solely from teeth, mainly found in the Klausrieglerbach locality of Austria, it consists of two species, C. ogiveformis and C. noricum. Assuming a falcatid identity, it is the most recent member of the family, which otherwise became extinct at the end of the Carboniferous.

<i>Dracopristis</i> Extinct genus of ctenacanth

Dracopristis is an extinct genus of ctenacanth that lived during the Carboniferous period in North America, around 307 million years ago. The species was discovered in the Kinney Brick Quarry in New Mexico, US. Like many fossils from the site, the fossils of Dracopristis are very well-preserved. A single species is known, Dracopristis hoffmanorum, which is named in honor of Ralph and Jeanette Hoffman, the owners of the quarry. Prior to being scientific named, D. hoffmanorum was informally referred to as the "Godzilla shark".

<i>Romerodus</i> Extinct genus of cartilaginous fish

Romerodus is an extinct genus of cartilaginous fish in the family Caseodontidae. While it and the rest of its family were historically considered elasmobranchs related to sharks and rays, they are now regarded as holocephalans, a diverse subclass which is today only represented by chimaeras. Romerodus is known from the Carboniferous and possibly Permian periods of North America, and the only named species, R. orodontus, was discovered in organic shale deposits in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is one of few members of its order, the Eugeneodontida, that is known from multiple complete, well preserved body fossils, and is thus an important taxon for understanding the anatomy and ecology of less well preserved eugeneodonts such as Helicoprion. The genus name honors paleontologist Alfred Romer.

<i>Squatinactis</i> Extinct genus of cartilaginous fishes

Squatinactis is a genus of extinct elasmobranch chondrichthyan known from the Carboniferous aged Bear Gulch Limestone in Montana. This fish was discovered in 1974 by Richard Lund. The type specimen, named CMNH 46133, consists of a brain case, poorly preserved jaws and gills, a pectoral fin, and a partial vertebral axis. This creatures most startling feature were its broad pectoral fins which resembled those of stingrays and angel sharks (Squatina). The holotype specimen has about 15 teeth in its jaw. This creature is named after the angel shark. Remains found in the South Urals of Russia and the Eyam Limestone of Derbyshire, England, have been tentatively identified as those belonging to S. caudispinatus.

References

  1. 1 2 Zangerl, Rainer (1981). Chondrichthyes I: Paleozoic Elasmobranchii. Handbook of paleoichthyology. Stuttgart; New York: G. Fischer. pp. 1–115. ISBN   978-0-89574-155-4.
  2. Maisey, John G. (31 October 2007). "The braincase in Paleozoic symmoriiform and cladoselachian sharks". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 307: 1–122. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2007)307[1:TBIPSA]2.0.CO;2. S2CID   85643864.
  3. 1 2 Coates M.; Gess R.; Finarelli J.; Criswell K.; Tietjen K. (2016). "A symmoriiform chondrichthyan braincase and the origin of chimaeroid fishes". Nature. 541 (7636): 208–211. doi:10.1038/nature20806. PMID   28052054. S2CID   4455946.
  4. 1 2 3 Guillaume Guinot; Sylvain Adnet; Lionel Cavin & Henri Cappetta (2013). "Cretaceous stem chondrichthyans survived the end-Permian mass extinction". Nature Communications. 4: Article number: 2669. doi: 10.1038/ncomms3669 . PMID   24169620.
  5. Feichtinger, Iris; Engelbrecht, Andrea; Lukeneder, Alexander; Kriwet, Jürgen (2020-07-02). "New chondrichthyans characterised by cladodont-like tooth morphologies from the Early Cretaceous of Austria, with remarks on the microstructural diversity of enameloid". Historical Biology. 32 (6): 823–836. doi:10.1080/08912963.2018.1539971. ISSN   0891-2963. S2CID   92392461.
  6. Alexander O. Ivanov (2022). "New late Carboniferous chondrichthyans from the European Russia". Bulletin of Geosciences. 97 (2): 219–234. doi: 10.3140/bull.geosci.1845 . S2CID   249479522.
  7. Lund R (1982). "Harpagofututor volsellorhinus new genus and species (Chondrichthyes, Chondrenchelyiformes) from the Namurian Bear Gulch Limestone, Chondrenchelys problematica Traquair (Visean), and their sexual dimorphism". Journal of Paleontology. 56 (4): 938–958., authorized by John Alroy, Paleobiology Database: Bear Gulch site
  8. Ivanov A (2005). "Early Permian chondrichthyans of the middle and south Urals". Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 8 (2): 127–138. doi: 10.4072/rbp.2005.2.05 .
  9. Williams, Michael E. (1979). "THE "CLADODONT LEVEL" SHARKS OF THE PENNSYLVANIAN BLACK SHALES OF CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA". Palaeontographica via Via ProQuest.
  10. Bronson, Allison W.; Pradel, Alan; Denton, John S. S.; Maisey, John G. (2024-03-07). "A new operculate symmoriiform chondrichthyan from the Late Mississippian Fayetteville Shale (Arkansas, United States)". Geodiversitas. 46 (4). doi:10.5252/geodiversitas2024v46a4. ISSN   1280-9659.