| Furcacaudidae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Furcacauda fredholmae | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Infraphylum: | Agnatha |
| Class: | †Thelodonti |
| Order: | †Furcacaudiformes |
| Family: | †Furcacaudidae Wilson & Caldwell, 1998 |
| Type genus | |
| †Furcacauda | |
| Genera | |
Furcacaudidae, the "'fork-tailed' agnathans," is an extinct family of thelodontid agnathans from the Lochkovian stage of the Early Devonian epoch and Wenlockian epoch of the Silurian, known from fossils found in Northern Canada. It is the type family of the order Furcacaudiformes, and itself currently includes 6 known species. It was officially described in 1998 by Mark V. H. Wilson and Michael W. Caldwell. [1]
A study in 2009 published by Wilson and Tiiu Märss moved members of Furcacaudiformes (and by extension Furcacaudidae) into a more basal position based on a more up-to-date data matrix, suggesting the divergence of Furcacaudidae from other thelodonts occurred earlier than previously theorized.[2]
- ^ Wilson, Mark V. H.; Caldwell, Michael W. (1998). "The Furcacaudiformes: a new order of jawless vertebrates with thelodont scales, based on articulated Silurian and Devonian fossils from northern Canada". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (1): 10–29. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011031. JSTOR 4523870.
- ^ Wilson, Mark; Märss, Tiiu (2009). "Thelodont phylogeny revisited, with inclusion of key scale-based taxa". Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences. 58: 298. Retrieved 2024-01-08.