Materpiscis
Materpiscis | ||||||||||
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Mother with newborn baby |
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Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||
Upper Devonian | ||||||||||
380 to 375 million years | ||||||||||
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Systematics | ||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||
Materpiscis | ||||||||||
Long et al., 2008 | ||||||||||
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Materpiscis ("mother fish") is a genus of the extinct Placodermi from the Upper Devonian (380 to 375 million years ago) of Australia.
The type species M. attenboroughi was named in honor of the British animal filmmaker David Attenborough and at the same time as the genus was first scientifically described in 2008 . The holotype , the type specimen on which the description is based, comes from the Australian Gogo formation and is estimated to be between 380 and 375 million years old. The fossil is kept under archive number WAM 07.12.1 in the Western Australian Museum in Perth .
The holotype also includes the remains of an embryo that reached about a quarter of the length of the approximately 25 centimeters large mother and was connected to it by an umbilical cord . Materpiscis attenboroughi thus shows the oldest evidence of viviparity (live births).
Another Devonian shellfish, Austroptyctodus gardineri , previously found in the same rock formation , contains the remains of three smaller fish. After the discovery of Materpiscis attenboroughi , the find was interpreted as further evidence of viviparity.
literature
- John A. Long, Kate Trinajstic, Gavin C. Young & Tim Senden (2008): "Live birth in the Devonian period". Nature 453, 650–652 doi: 10.1038 / nature06966 ( abstract )
Web links
- Mother fish - side of the Victoria Museum
- Pregnant Panzerfische - Wissenschaft.de
- Oldest Embryo Fossil Found - livescience.com