Eoactinistia
Eoactinistia | ||||||||||||
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Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
Lower Devonian | ||||||||||||
409 to 407 million years | ||||||||||||
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Eoactinistia | ||||||||||||
Johanson et al. , 2006 |
Eoactinistia is a genus of fossil coelacids from the Lower Devonian of Australia. He is the oldest known representative of this group of bony fish (Osteichthyes). The only known species ( type species ) is Eoactinistia foreyi .
Find and naming
A single fossil record of the genus was discovered in the approximately 409 to 407 million year old sedimentary rocks of the Fairy Formation in the South Australian state of Victoria . They are 20 million years older than the oldest previously known coelacanth finds, to which the genus name Eoactinistia (“Coelacanth of the dawn”) refers. The specific epithet honors Peter Forey . The first scientific description of the new genus and species is based on a single complete lower jaw bone ( holotype NMV (Museum Victoria, Melbourne) 218301).
features
Eoactinistia can be distinguished from other coelacanth by its lower jawbone, which is rectangular and only about twice as long as it is wide. There is a characteristic notch at its rear end. The teeth are fused with the lower jaw bone, a pore is present.
supporting documents
- Zerina Johanson, John A. Long, John A. Talent, Philippe Janvier, James W. Warren: Oldest coelacanth, from the Early Devonian of Australia . (PDF; 305 kB) In: Biology Letters . 2, No. 3, 2006, pp. 443-446. doi : 10.1098 / rsbl.2006.0470 .