Birgeria

Birgeria
Temporal range: Early–Late Triassic (Griesbachian–Rhaetian) 251.9–201.6 Ma
Fossil of Birgeria acuminata, Civic Museum of Natural Science, Bergamo, Italy.[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: †Birgeriiformes
Heyler, 1969
Family: †Birgeriidae
Aldinger, 1937
Genus: †Birgeria
Stensiö, 1919
Type species
†Saurichthys mougeoti
Agassiz, 1844
Species[1]

See text

Synonyms
  • ?Xenestes Jordan, 1907

Birgeria is a genus of carnivorous marine ray-finned fish from the Triassic period.[3] Birgeria had a global distribution, with fossil known from Madagascar, Spitsbergen, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, China, Russia, Canada and Nevada, United States. The oldest fossils are from Griesbachian aged beds of the Wordie Creek Formation of East Greenland.[4] Birgeria existed throughout the entire Triassic period, from the very beginning just after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, up to the very end with its extinction during the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction.

The type species was first described as Saurichthys mougeoti. Following a reinvestigation, Erik Stensiö concluded that this species cannot be ascribed to Saurichthys. He thus erected a new genus, which he named after his colleague Birger Sjöström, who had joined him on an expedition to the Arctic island of Spitsbergen (Svalbard) in 1915.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Romano et al 2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Stefani, Marco; Arduini, Paolo; Garassino, Alessandro; Pinna, Giovanni; Teruzzi, Giorgio; Trombetta, Gian Luigi (1992). "Palaeoenvironment of extraordinary fossil biotas from the Upper Triassic of Italy". Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano. 132 (24): 309–335.
  3. ^ Romano, C. & Brinkmann, W. (2009). "Reappraisal of the lower actinopterygian Birgeria stensioei ALDINGER, 1931 (Osteichthyes; Birgeriidae) from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland) and Besano (Italy)". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 252: 17–31. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2009/0252-0017.
  4. ^ Nielsen, Eigil (1949). "Studies on Triassic fishes from East Greenland 2. Australosomus and Birgeria". Palaeozoologica Groenlandica. 3: 1–309..
  5. ^ Stensiö, Erik (1919). "Einige Bemerkungen über die systematische Stellung von Saurichthys mougeoti Agassiz". Senckenbergiana. 1: 177–181..