Palaeoniscum

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Palaeoniscum (from Template:Langx Script error: No such module "lang"., 'ancient' and Template:Langx Script error: No such module "lang". 'cod-fish' or 'woodlouse')[1] is an extinct genus of ray-finned fish from the Middle to Late Permian period (Guadalupian-Lopingian) of England, Germany, Turkey, North America and Greenland, and possibly other regions.[2] The genus was named Palaeoniscum in 1818 by Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville,[3] but was later misspelled as Palaeoniscus by Blainville and other authors (notably Louis Agassiz).[4] Palaeoniscum belongs to the family Palaeoniscidae.

File:Palaeoniscus macropomus.jpg
Restoration of Palaeoniscum
File:Palaeoniscus vratislavensis.JPG
P. vratislavensis fossil

The type species Palaeoniscum freieslebeni was named after Johann Carl Freiesleben (1774–1846), mining commissioner of Saxony. P. freieslebeni is the most common taxon in the Wuchiapingian aged Kupferschiefer and Marl Slate, where it constitutes 80% of all fish fossils.[5] The genus is considered to be a poorly defined wastebasket taxon.[6]

Palaeoniscum had a torpedo-shaped body Script error: No such module "convert". in length, with a deeply forked caudal fin and tall dorsal fin, indicating that it was a fast swimmer. It was probably an active predator, feeding on other freshwater fish. Its sharp teeth could be replaced when lost, a trait also seen in modern sharks. Like other early ray-finned fish, Palaeoniscum had air sacs connected to the mouth, which served as a primitive swim bladder.[7]

Several Palaeozoic and Mesozoic species that have been ascribed to the genus Palaeoniscum were later shown to be only distantly related with P. freieslebeni. These species were subsequently removed and transferred to other genera (e.g., Acentrophorus, Aeduella, Paramblypterus, see list below).[8] The allocation of other species to Palaeoniscum (see list below) is often doubtful and mostly based on superficial resemblance with P. freieslebeni.

Palaeoniscum is the name giving taxon of the extinct Palaeonisciformes (or Palaeoniscoidei), a polyphyletic group comprising several superficially similar looking but not closely related early actinopterygian taxa. Palaeonisciformes is considered a wastebasket taxon by modern taxonomic standards. Script error: No such module "Portal".

Species

Species moved to other genera

References

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  3. Blainville, H.-M. D. (1818). Sur les Ichthyolites, les Poisons Fossiles; Article extrait du Nouveau Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle, vol. 28, Abel Lange, p. 16.
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Template:Actinopterygian genera Template:Taxonbar