Sarcopterygii

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Sarcopterygii Fossil range: Latest Silurian - Recent
Coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Superclass: Osteichthyes Class: Sarcopterygii
Subclasses
Coelacanthimorpha - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Tetrapodomorpha - Tetrapods

Sarcopterygii (from Greek sarx, flesh, and pteryx, fin) is a taxonomical class of animals. The class is made up of lobe-finned fishes. For example, the lungfish and coelacanths.

Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Taxonomy and Phylogeny 3 See also 4 References

[change] Characteristics

These are bony fishes with paired rounded fins. These fins, being similar to limbs, suggest that these fish may be ancestors of land vertebrates.

Many people who study taxonomy include Tetrapoda within this group. This means the group includes all species of four-limbed vertebrates.^[1] The fin-limbs of sarcopterygiians are very similar to what people believe was the ancestral form of tetrapod limbs. This has caused them to be believed to be the direct ancestors of tetrapods in the scientific literature.

[change] Taxonomy and Phylogeny

• Class SARCOPTERYGII
  • Actinistia
    • Eoactinistia
    • Subclass Coelacanthimorpha
      • Order Coelacanthiformes
        • Family Latimeriidae
          • Macropoma
          • Latimeria
  • Rhipidistia
    • Subclass Dipnoi
      • Order Ceratodontiformes
      • Order Lepidosireniformes
    • Subclass Tetrapodomorpha
      • Order Rhizodontida
      • Superorder Osteolepidida
        • Family Tristichopteridae
          • Eusthenopteron
          • Hyneria
        • Order Osteolepiformes
      • Order Panderichthyida
      • Tiktaalik
      • Tetrapoda

[change] See also

• Actinopterygii - ray-finned fishes

[change] References

1. ↑ Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-25031-7.