Major discoveries on the dermal skeleton of fossil and Recent polypteriforms: a review |
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Authors: | Jacques Daget Mireille Gayet François J Meunier & Jean-Yves Sire |
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Institution: | Laboratoire d'Ichtyologie générale et appliquée, FR CNRS 1541, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, 43 rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France (e-mail:;), CNRS FRE 2158, UniversitéClaude Bernard-Lyon I, 27 boulevard du 11 novembre, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France (e-mail:;), CNRS UMR 8570, UniversitéParis 7–D. Diderot, Case 7077, 2 place Jussieu, 75251 Paris Cedex 05, France (e-mail:;) |
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Abstract: | Following the discovery of the first living polypterid, Polypterus bichir, in 1802, almost two centuries later we now know of 15 living species (including four subspecies), 14 belonging to the genus Polypterus and one to the genus Erpetoichthys (Calamoichthys) all inhabiting intertropical Africa. The polypterid fossil record was for a long time reduced to some scarce, disarticulated bones, mainly scales, found in various African deposits covering a wider area than the actual geographical distribution. With the discovery, on one hand, of polypterid scales, vertebrae, dermal bones of the cranium and dorsal spiny rays in South America and, on the other hand, of scales and numerous dorsal spiny rays in Niger and Sudan, and two articulated fossils in Morocco, the story of the polypteriforms has revealed some of its mysteries. The discovery of isopedine between dentine and bony basal plate in the scales of living and fossil polypterid species is considered a synapomorphy of the group, and has been an important aid in discriminating polypterid scales from other ganoid scales. A review of the main findings during the last 20 years is presented. |
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Keywords: | Cenozoic Cretaceous dorsal spines fossils Recent polypteriforms scales |
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