Osteolepiformes

Osteolepiformes
Temporal range: 396–299Ma

Middle Devonian to Late Carboniferous

Osteolepis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Sarcopterygii
Subclass: Tetrapodomorpha
Superorder: Osteolepidida
Order: Osteolepiformes
Clades

Osteolepiformes are a group of prehistoric lobe-finned fishes which first appeared during the Devonian period. The order contains two families: Megalichthyidae and Osteolepidae. The Order is generally considered to be paraphyletic because the characters that define it are mainly attributes of stem tetrapodomorphs.[1]

Below is a cladogram showing the Osteolepiformes modified from Swartz 2012.[2]

Osteolepiformes

†Gogonasus andrewsae Long 1985

†Gyroptychius Jarvik 1948

†Osteolepidae




†Medoevia lata Lebedev 1995

†Megalichthyidae Long 1985






References

  1. ↑ Ahlberg, P. E.; Johanson, Z. (1998). "Osteolepiforms and the ancestry of tetrapods" (PDF). Nature 395 (6704): 792–794. Bibcode:1998Natur.395..792A. doi:10.1038/27421.
  2. ↑ Swartz, B. (2012). "A marine stem-tetrapod from the Devonian of Western North America". PLoS ONE 7 (3): e33683. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033683. PMC 3308997. PMID 22448265.