Materpiscis

Materpiscis
	Mother with newborn baby ; (artistic reconstruction)
Temporal occurrence
	Upper Devonian
	380 to 375 million years
Locations
	Fitzroy Crossing ( Western Australia );
Systematics
	Jaw mouths (Gnathostomata)
	Placodermi
	Ptyctodontida
	Ptyctodontidae
	Materpiscis
Scientific name
	Materpiscis
	Long et al., 2008
Art
	Materpiscis attenboroughi;

Materpiscis ("mother fish") is a genus of the extinct Placodermi from the Upper Devonian (380 to 375 million years ago) of Australia.

Model by Materpiscis

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 .

Holotype with embryo bone (green), umbilical cord (red) and yolk sac (yellow)

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

Commons : Materpiscis - collection of images, videos and audio files

Mother fish - side of the Victoria Museum
Pregnant Panzerfische - Wissenschaft.de
Oldest Embryo Fossil Found - livescience.com