Ceratodontiformes

Ceratodontiformes
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous - Holocene, 318.1 - 0 mya
Neoceratodus forsteri, a neoceratodontid
Lepidosiren paradoxa, a lepidosirenid
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Sarcopterygii
Clade: Rhipidistia
Clade: Dipnomorpha
Class: Dipnoi
Order: Ceratodontiformes
Berg, 1940
Type genus
†Ceratodus
Agassiz, 1837
Families

Several extinct, see text

Native distribution of Ceratodontiformes
Synonyms
  • Lepidosireniformes L. S. Berg (No date given, per Fowler, 1947)

Ceratodontiformes is the only extant order of lungfish, containing the families Neoceratodontidae, Lepidosirenidae, and Protopteridae as well as many other extinct groups. Members of this group are the only lungfish known to have survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event.[1][2] Although lungfish originated in marine environments, the Ceratodontiformes have been an exclusively freshwater group since the Carboniferous.[3] This order was formerly considered the suborder Ceratodontoidei.

All lungfish of the order can and often do estivate (except the spotted African lungfish, which can but rarely does so).[4] All members of the order are obligatory air-breathers; only the Australian lungfish has functioning gills when adult; members of the Lepidosirenidae have gills only when they are larvae.[4] The South American and African lungfish also all have generally small scales and two lungs as opposed to the Australian lungfish's single lung.[4]

  1. ^ Nelson, Joseph S.; Grande, Terry C.; Wilson, Mark V. H. (2016-02-22). Fishes of the World. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
  2. ^ Kemp, Anne; Cavin, Lionel; Guinot, Guillaume (2017-04-01). "Evolutionary history of lungfishes with a new phylogeny of post-Devonian genera". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 471: 209–219. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.12.051. ISSN 0031-0182.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c Kemp, Anne; Cavin, Lionel; Guinot, Guillaume (2017-04-01). "Evolutionary history of lungfishes with a new phylogeny of post-Devonian genera". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 471: 209–219. Bibcode:2017PPP...471..209K. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.12.051. ISSN 0031-0182.