Ticinepomis
Extinct genus of coelacanths / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ticinepomis is an extinct genus of coelacanth lobe-finned fish which lived during the Middle Triassic period in what is now Switzerland. It contains two species, T. peyeri and T. ducanensis.[2]
Ticinepomis | |
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Fossil | |
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Reconstruction | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Sarcopterygii |
Class: | Actinistia |
Order: | Coelacanthiformes |
Family: | Latimeriidae |
Genus: | †Ticinepomis Rieppel, 1980 |
Type species | |
†Ticinepomis peyeri Rieppel, 1980 | |
Other species | |
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![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Triassic_marine_vertebrate_apex_predators.png/640px-Triassic_marine_vertebrate_apex_predators.png)
Specimens of the species T. peyeri, which was named after Bernhard Peyer, are most common in the Besano Formation (or Grenzbitumenzone) of Monte San Giorgio in canton Ticino.[3] Other coelacanths from Monte San Giorgio include a larger species (tentatively referred to Holophagus picenus) from the Besano Formation,[4] and a species of Heptanema from the Meride Limestone.[5]
Larger Ticinepomis specimens have been found in the Prosanto Formation of canton Graubünden, originally referred to as Ticinepomis cf. T. peyeri.[6] A revision showed that this material belongs to a new species, T. ducanensis, remains of which were also discovered in the Besano Formation of canton Ticino.[2] The Prosanto Formation also produced the unusual coelacanths Foreyia and Rieppelia.