Mawsonia (fish)

Mawsonia (fish)
Mawsonia
Temporal range: Cretaceous
Mawsonia branchial plates
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Sarcopterygii
Subclass: Coelacanthimorpha
Order: Coelacanthiformes
Family: Mawsoniidae
Genus: Mawsonia
Woodward, 1907
Binomial name
Mawsonia gigas
Woodward, 1907
Species
  • M. brasiliensis Yabumoto, 2002
  • M. gigas Woodward, 1907 (type)
  • M. lavocati Tabaste, 1963
  • M. libyca Weiler, 1935
  • M. tegamensis Wenz, 1975
  • M. ubangiana Casier, 1961

Mawsonia is an extinct genus of prehistoric coelacanth fish which lived during the Cretaceous period (Albian stage, about 99 to 112 million years ago). Fossils have been found in Africa and South America. Mawsonia first described by British palaeontologist Arthur Smith Woodward in 1907.

Skull

External links

Sources

  • Fishes of the World by Joseph S. Nelson
  • History of the Coelacanth Fishes by Peter Forey
  • Discovering Fossil Fishes by John Maisey and John G. Maisey
  • A Pictorial Guide to Fossils by Gerard Ramon Case
  • The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt by William Nothdurft and Josh Smith
  • Famous Dinosaurs of Africa by Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan
  • The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution by John A. Long
  • Evolution of Fossil Ecosystems by Paul Selden and John Nudds