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PANDERICHTHYS
(pan-der-ik-fiss)
meaning: "Pander's fish"
Panderichthys
Named By: Dross in 1941
Time Period: Late Devonian, 380 Ma
Location: Latvia. Also Russia
Size: Around 90-130 centimetres long
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore
Fossil(s): Several individuals, they often represented by incomplete and fragmentary remains
Classification: | Chordata | Sarcopterygii | Elpistostegalia | Panderichthyidae |
About

Panderichthys is a genus of extinct sarcopterygian (lobe-finned fish) from the late Devonian period, about 380 Mya. Panderichthys, which was recovered from Frasnian (early Late Devonian) deposits in Latvia, is represented by two species. P. stolbovi is known only from some snout fragments and an incomplete lower jaw. P. rhombolepis is known from several more complete specimens. Although it probably belongs to a sister group of the earliest tetrapods, Panderichthys exhibits a range of features transitional between tristichopterid lobe-fin fishes (e.g., Eusthenopteron) and early tetrapods. It is named after the German-Baltic paleontologist Christian Heinrich Pander. A recent study uncovered tetrapod tracks dating back to before the appearance of Panderichthys in the fossil record, which suggests that Panderichthys is not a transitional fossil, but nonetheless shows the traits that evolved during the fish-tetrapod evolution

Read more about Panderichthys at Wikipedia
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