| Knightia Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Knightia eocaena specimen | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Clupeiformes |
| Family: | Clupeidae |
| Subfamily: | Pellonulinae |
| Genus: | †Knightia Jordan 1907 |
| Type species | |
| Knightia eocaena Jordan, 1907
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| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
Knightia is an extinct genus of clupeid bony fish that lived in the freshwater lakes and rivers of North America and Asia during the Eocene epoch. The genus was erected by David Starr Jordan in 1907, in honor of the late University of Wyoming professor Wilbur Clinton Knight, "an indefatigable student of the paleontology of the Rocky Mountains."[1] It is the official state fossil of Wyoming,[2] and the most commonly excavated fossil fish in the world.[3]
- ^ Jordan, D. S. 1907. "The fossil fishes of California; with supplementary notes on other species of extinct fishes". Bulletin Department of Geology, University of California 5:136
- ^ "Wyoming Secretary of State". Archived from the original on 2011-09-06. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
- ^ Kelley, Patricia H.; Kowalewski, Michał; Hansen, Thor A. (2003). Predator-prey interactions in the fossil record. Springer. ISBN 0-306-47489-1.