Gnathostomata

Gnathostomata is the group of vertebrates with jaws.

Gnathostomata Temporal range: Ordovician - Recent
Megalodon jaws
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Infraphylum:	Gnathostomata

The group was meant to include all jawed fish, but in modern fashion it also includes all the tetrapods as well, since they evolved from jawed fish. It is the sister group of the Agnatha, the jawless vertebrates.

The Gnathostomata first appeared in the Ordovician period and became diverse in the Devonian period, the 'Age of Fishes'. Land vertebrates appeared in the Carboniferous period.

Subgroups

• Chondrichthyes cartilaginous fish
• Acanthodii† 'spiny sharks'
• Placoderms† armoured fish
• Osteichthyes bony fish
  • Actinopterygii ray-finned fish
  • Sarcopterygii lobe-finned fish and land vertebrates (tetrapods)

Gnathostomata Media

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  Dunkleosteus terrelli 2024 reconstruction

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  Illustration by Duane Raver

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  Atlantic Sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrhynchus. Scans of artwork commissioned by the Fish and Wildlife Service in the 1970's. Original art is kept at NCTC museum.

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  Salamandra salamandra (white background)

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  A profile view of Deinosuchus riograndensis

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  Phylogenetic tree of marsupials derived from retroposon data (Paucituberculata)

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  A reconstruction of the freshwater arthrodire placoderm Coccosteus cuspidatus. The integument of this reconstruction was based off Chinese high-fin banded sharks as well as carpetsharks.

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  Illustration of the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) by Marc Dando.

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  Acanthodes bronni, an acanthodian from the Early Permian of Germany, pencil drawing Ref : Janvier, P. (2001) "Ostracoderms and the shaping of gnathostome characters" in Ahlberg, P.E. , ed. Major Events in Early Vertebrate Evolution: Palaeontology, Phylogeny, Genetics and Development, CRC Press, p. 175