Cretatriacanthus Temporal range:
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Life restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Tetraodontiformes (?) |
Family: | †Cretatriacanthidae |
Genus: | †Cretatriacanthus Tyler & Sorbini, 1996[1] |
Species: | †C. guidottii
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Binomial name | |
†Cretatriacanthus guidottii Tyler & Sorbini, 1996
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Cretatriacanthus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish from the Late Cretaceous. It contains a single species, C. guidottii from the late Campanian or early Maastrichtian of Nardò, Italy.[2] It is generally placed as a basal tetraodontiform,[3][4] although more recent studies have disputed this, finding it to instead represent an early basal percomorph (under an expanded treatment of Acanthuriformes).[5]
It can be distinguished by its tall dorsal fin of elongated spines, which shows similarities to that of the modern genus Triacanthus. Spines are also present on its pelvic fins.[1]