Coelacanthus

Coelacanthus ("Hollow Spine") is a genus of extinct coelacanths that first appeared during the Permian period. It was the first genus of coelacanths described and the order Coelacanthiformes is named after it.

Coelacanthus
Temporal range: 260–240 Ma Late Permian to Early Triassic
Coelacanthus granulatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Sarcopterygii
Subclass:
Actinistia
Order:
Coelacanthiformes
Family:
Coelacanthidae
Genus:
Coelacanthus

Agassiz, 1836
Species
  • see text

Description

They bear a superficial similarity to the living Latimeria, though they were smaller, and had more elongated heads. Individuals grew up to 3 feet in length, had an elongate codavypter or supplementary tail lobe, and had small lobed fins, suggesting that Coelacanthus were open-water predators.

Distribution and time

Coelacanthus is known from Late Permian and Early Triassic deposits in Europe and Canada, although the referred species C. welleri, known from Iowa, is of Late Devonian (Famennian) age. It survived the Permian–Triassic extinction event, and one species, C. banffensis, is known from the Early Triassic. Coelacanthus minor was considered by Woodward (1891) as potentially belonging to the Triassic genus Heptanema,[1] while Martin and Wenz (1984) considered Coelacanthus lunzensis a possible synonym of Garnbergia.[2]

Species
  • Coelacanthus banffensis Lambe, 1916
  • Coelacanthus gracilis Agassiz, 1844
  • Coelacanthus granulatus Agassiz, 1836
  • Coelacanthus welleri Eastman, 1908
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References
  1. Woodward A. S. 1891. Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History). Part II. London.
  2. M. Martin and S. Wenz. 1984. Découverte d'un nouveau Coelacanthidé, Garnbergia ommata n.g., n.sp., dans le Muschelkalk supérieur du Baden-Württemberg. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie) 105:1-17

Mikko's Phylogeny Archive on Coelacanthiformes


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