Ohmdenia
Ohmdenia | |
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Ohmdenia multidentata fossil | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | †Pachycormiformes |
Family: | †Pachycormidae |
Subfamily: | † Asthenocorminae
|
Genus: | †Ohmdenia Hauff, 1953 |
Species: | †O. multidentata
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Binomial name | |
†Ohmdenia multidentata Hauff, 1953
|
Ohmdenia is an
Description
This animal is known exclusively from an incomplete fossil, but sufficient to reconstruct (at least partially) its appearance. Ohmdenia must have been a large fish, at least two and a half meters long. Ohmdenia was therefore one of the largest bony fishes of the lower Jurassic, surpassed only by giant chondrostei such as Strongylosteus and Gyrosteus . The body had to be relatively slender, with a symmetrical and slender tail. The skull was long and short, and had a jaw equipped with numerous teethsmall, rather robust, rear-facing and placed in an area that extended along the dorsal margin of the jaw. The combination of a long and slender body and a low and elongated skull is unique among the fish related to Ohmdenia (the pachicormiforms).[2]
Paleobiology
The long mouth of Ohmdenia, together with the peculiar teeth, imply a particular diet for this animal. Usually, the pachicormiforms possess thin, needle-like teeth, or large fanged fangs, or are still totally devoid of teeth. Ohmdenia, on the other hand, possessed numerous small backward-facing teeth; this type of dentition is commonly associated with predators that feed on
See also
- Prehistoric fish
- List of prehistoric bony fish
References
- ^ Hauff, B. 1953 Ohmdenia multidentata nov. gen. et nov. sp. Ein neuer grober Fischfund aus den Posidonienschiefern des Lias e von Ohmden/Holzmaden in Württemburg. Neues Jahrb. Geol. P.-A. 97, 39–50.
- ^ a b c Romano, C. & Brinkmann, W. 2009 Reappraisal of the lower actinopterygian Birgeria stensioei Aldinger, 1931 (Osteichthyes; Birgeriidae) from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland) and Besano (Italy). Neues Jahrb. Geol. P.-A. 252, 17-31. (doi: 10.1127 / 0077-7749 / 2009 / 0252-0017)
- ^ M. Friedmann. 2012. Parallel evolutionary trajectories underlie the origin of the giant suspension-feeding whales and bony fish. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279: 944-951