Hensodon
| Hensodon Temporal range: Upper Cenomanian[1] | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reconstructions of the male (top), and female | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Infraphylum: | Gnathostomata |
| Superclass: | Osteichthyes |
| Order: | Pycnodontiformes |
| Family: | Coccodontidae |
| Genus: | Hensodon |
| Species: | H. spinosus |
| Binomial name | |
| Hensodon spinosus | |
Hensodon spinosus is an extinct pycnodontid that lived during the Upper Cenomanian of what is now Lebanon.[1] H. spinosus superficially resembled a marine angelfish with a massive head, and a very spiny pectoral girdle. Different specimens have different arrangements of the horn-like frontal spines. One form has the horns arranged as a double-prong, assumed to be the male, and the other form, assumed to be the female, having the horns one after the other, like those of a rhinoceros.[2]
Before they were separated into different (albeit, closely related) families, H. spinosus was considered the sister taxon of Trewavasia, within Coccodontidae. However, since the removal of Trewavasia and Ichthyoceros from Coccodontidae to form Trewavasiidae, the superficially chimaera-like Coccodus is H. spinosus' closest relative.
See also
- Prehistoric fish
- List of prehistoric bony fish
- Trewavasia, once thought to be its sister genus
- Coccodus, currently regarded as its sister genus
References
- 1 2 Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: 560. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
- ↑ CAPASSO, Luigi Lorenzo; Louis TAVERNE; Roy NOHRA (20 October 2010). "A re-description of Hensodon spinosus, a remarkable coccodontid fish(Actinopterygii, †Pycnodontiformes) from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous)of Haqel, Lebanon" (PDF). Bulletin de l’Institut royal desSciences naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 80: 145–162.