Pachycormiformes Temporal range: Early Jurassic - Late Cretaceous,
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Skeleton of Pachycormus | |
Skeleton of Orthocormus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Infraclass: | Teleosteomorpha |
Division: | †Aspidorhynchei |
Order: | †Pachycormiformes Berg 1937 |
Family: | †Pachycormidae Woodward, 1895 |
Type genus | |
Pachycormus Agassiz, 1833
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Genera | |
See text | |
Synonyms[1] | |
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Pachycormiformes is an extinct order of marine ray-finned fish known from the Early Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous. It only includes a single family, Pachycormidae. They were characterized by having serrated pectoral fins (though more recent studies demonstrated that fin shape diversity in this group was high[2]), reduced pelvic fins and a bony rostrum. Pachycormiformes are morphologically diverse, containing both tuna and swordfish-like carnivorous forms, as well as edentulous suspension-feeding forms.