Callipurbeckia
Extinct genus of fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Callipurbeckia is an extinct genus of marine semionotiform ray-finned fish from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods. Fossils have been found in Germany, Tanzania, and England.[1]
| Callipurbeckia Temporal range: Late Jurassic—Early Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
| Fossil specimen of C. notopterus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Clade: | Ginglymodi |
| Order: | †Semionotiformes |
| Family: | †Callipurbeckiidae |
| Genus: | †Callipurbeckia López-Arbarello, 2012 |
| Type species | |
| †Lepidotes minor Agassiz, 1833 | |
| Species | |
|
†C. minor (Agassiz, 1833) | |
It contains three species, which were previously classified in the related lepisosteiform genus Lepidotes.[1][2]
- C. minor (Agassiz, 1833) - Earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) of England (Purbeck Beds)
- C. notopterus (Agassiz, 1835) - Late Jurassic (Tithonian) of Germany (Solnhofen Limestone)
- C. tendaguruensis (Arratia & Schultze, 1999) - Late Jurassic (Tithonian) of Tanzania (Tendaguru Formation)
Potential relatives of Callipurbeckia include Occitanichthys from the Tithonian of France (formerly confused with C. minor) and Tlayuamichin from the Albian of Mexico.[3][4]
Its name comes from "calli-", from an Ancient Greek word meaning beautiful, and "Purbeck", from the modern-day name of the area where a specimen of it was found.[1]