Gnathorhizidae

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Gnathorhizidae
Temporal range: 323–237 
Ma
 Carboniferous - Middle Triassic
Gnathorhiza
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Sarcopterygii
Class: Dipnoi
Order: Ceratodontiformes
Family: †Gnathorhizidae
Miles, 1977
Genera

The Gnathorhizidae are an extinct family of lungfish that lived from the late Carboniferous until the middle Triassic. Gnathorhizid fossils have been found in North America, Madagascar, Australia, and possibly Eastern Europe and South Africa. They are characterized by high-ridged toothplates that form cutting blades and a reduction in cranial bones.

Taxonomy

Previously, based on morphological evidence, it was assumed that Gnathorhizidae was the

Lepidosirenidae and Protopteridae, which still live in South America and Africa.[1] However, phylogenetic evidence indicates that Gnathorhizidae is a basal group of freshwater lungfish with no close extant relatives, and African and South American lungfish are most closely related to Australian lungfish in Neoceratodontidae.[2]

Distribution

Gnathorhizids are found in North America, Eastern Europe, Australia, and Africa. Gnathorhizids from North America range from the

Pangean distribution throughout the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic
.

Paleoecology and behavior

Gnathorhizids are found primarily in

South American
lungfish.

Unlike most fossil lungfish, but again, like modern South American and African lungfish, gnathorhizids have bladelike toothplates. This suggests gnathorhizids were active predators unlike most lungfish, which feed primarily on

invertebrates
.

References

  1. ISSN 0031-0182
    .
  2. S2CID 258115076
    .

Sources

  • Berman, D. S., 1976, Cranial morphology of the Lower Permian lungfish Gnathorhiza (Osteichthyes: Dipnoi): Journal of Paleontology, v. 50(6), p. 1020-1033.
  • Cunningham, C. R. and Dickson, E. D III, 1996, Distributions of Kansas Permo-Carboniferous vertebrate assemblages as a function of wet and dry seasons: Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, v. 99(1-2), p. 16-28.
  • Huttenlocker, A.K. et al., 2005, An earliest Permian nonmarine vertebrate assemblage from the Eskridge Formation, Nebraska:
  • Lucas, S.G. and Zeigler, K.E., eds., 2005, The Nonmarine Permian, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin No. 30., pp. 133–143.
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