User:Naldo-Crocoduck/Tristichopterids

Tristichopterids (Tristichopteridae), were a diverse and successful group of tetrapodomorph fishes throughout the Late Devonian stage. They first appeared in the Givetian epoch of the Middle Devonian stage. Within the group sizes ranged from a few tens of centimeters (Tristichopterus) to several meters (Hyneria and Eusthenodon). Some tristichopterids share some of the features of the "elpistostegalians", a paraphyletic assemblage of fishes close to the origin of tetrapods. This mainly concerns the shape of the skull and a reduction in size of the posterior fins.

An old and persistent notion is that Eusthenopteron was able to crawl onto land using its fins. However, there is no evidence actually supporting this idea. All tristichopterids went extinct by the end of Late Devonian.

Anatomy
Contrarily to the feature in Tetrapods, Tristichopterid jaws were filled with little teeth on the external margin, and big fangs on the internal margin and the palate.

Genera of Tristichopterids

 * Cabonnichthys
 * Canningius
 * Eusthenodon
 * Eusthenopteron
 * Hyneria
 * Jarvikina
 * Langlieria
 * Mandageria
 * Notorhizodon
 * Platycephalichthys
 * Tristichopterus

This cladogram is taken from Ahlberg & Johanson (1998) and Snitting (2008).