Thoracopterus

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Thoracopterus
Temporal range: Carnian
Scientific classification
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Thoracopterus

Bronn, 1858
Binomial name
Thoracopterus niederristi
Bronn, 1858

Thoracopterus is an extinct genus of overwater gliding ray-finned fish from the Carnian age of the Late Triassic. It is a monotypic taxon, with the type species being T. niederristi. [1]

Contents

Thoracopterus had elongate pectoral fins, similar to modern Exocoetidae, which are used to glide overwater in order to escape aquatic predators. Thoracopterus represents one of the earliest known example for overwater gliding in actinopterygians.

Synonyms

The following species that were originally referred to Thoracopterus were later redescribed as Italopterus :

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Shen, Chenchen; Arratia, Gloria (2021-10-02). "Re-description of the sexually dimorphic peltopleuriform fish Wushaichthys exquisitus (Middle Triassic, China): taxonomic implications and phylogenetic relationships". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 19 (19): 1317–1342. doi:10.1080/14772019.2022.2029595. ISSN   1477-2019. S2CID   247731689.

See also