Austroptyctodus
Extinct genus of fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Austroptyctodus gardineri is a small ptyctodontid placoderm fish from the Upper Devonian Gogo Formation of Western Australia. First described by Miles & Young (1977)[1] as a new species of the German genus Ctenurella. Long (1997)[2] redescribed the German material and found major differences in the skull roof pattern so assigned it to a new genus, Austroptyctodus. This genus lacks spinal plates and has Ptyctodus-like toothplates.
| Austroptyctodus Temporal range: Late Frasnian | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | †Placodermi |
| Order: | †Ptyctodontida |
| Family: | †Ptyctodontidae |
| Genus: | †Austroptyctodus Long, 1997 |
| Species: | †A. gardineri |
| Binomial name | |
| †Austroptyctodus gardineri Long, 1997 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The most significant discovery about Austroptyctodus is that one specimen depicts a female pregnant with 3 unborn embryos inside her, showing that like Materpiscis, also from Gogo, this genus was a live bearer that reproduced through internal fertilization.[3]
