Elpistostegalia

Elpistostegalia, also known as Panderichthyida, is a type of prehistoric fish which lived about 385 to 374 million years ago.[2]

Elpistostegalia
Temporal range:
Late Devonian - Present,
Panderichthys BW.jpg
Panderichthys
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Eotetrapodiformes
Clade: Elpistostegalia
Camp & Allison, 1961
Type genus
Elpistostege
Westoll, 1938
Subgroups[1]
Synonyms
  • Panderichthyida Vorobyeva, 1989

Why they evolved

A rise in the world's oxygen content caused predatory fish to evolve,[3] and this fish was the most successful.[4]

What they evolved from

Below is a description of their evolutionary family tree.[1]

Eotetrapodiformes

Tristichopteridae Eusthenopteron BW.jpg




Tinirau




Platycephalichthys


Elpistostegalia

Panderichthys Panderichthys BW.jpg





Tiktaalik Tiktaalik BW.jpg



Elpistostege





Elginerpeton Elginerpeton BW.jpg




Ventastega




Acanthostega Acanthostega BW.jpg




Ichthyostega Ichthyostega BW.jpg




Whatcheeriidae Pederpes22small.jpg




Colosteidae Greererpeton BW.jpg




Crassigyrinus Crassigyrinus BW.jpg




Baphetidae
















Elpistostegalia Media

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Swartz, B.. A marine stem-tetrapod from the Devonian of Western North America. PLOS ONE 7 (3) (2012). p. e33683. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033683.
  2. Elpistostegidae on the Taxonomicon
  3. Devonian rise in atmospheric oxygen correlated to the radiations of terrestrial plants and large predatory fish. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107 (42) (October 2010). p. 17911–5. doi:10.1073/pnas.1011287107.
  4. Lewis Jr., William M.. Morphological Adaptations of Cyprinodontoids for Inhabiting Oxygen Deficient Waters. Copeia 2 (2) (1 June 1970). p. 319–326. doi:10.2307/1441653.