Tselfatiiformes
Extinct order of ray-finned fishes / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tselfatiiformes is an extinct order of bony fishes from the infraclass Teleostei.[1][2][3] The order represents the most important radiation of marine teleosts during the Cretaceous period. Fossils of tselfatiiforms are known from Europe, North America, central and northern South America, the Middle East and North Africa.[1]
Tselfatiiformes | |
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Tselfatia formosa fossil in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Supercohort: | Teleocephala |
Clade: | Osteoglossocephala |
Clade: | Clupeocephala |
Order: | †Tselfatiiformes Nelson, 1994 |
Families | |
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Synonyms | |
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The order appeared in the upper Albian on the coasts of Europe and North Africa and spread during the Cenomanian and Turonian on the Proto Atlantic to the coasts of northern South America, the Gulf of Mexico and into the Western Interior Seaway.[1] In the Coniacian and Santonian they were very common in North American coastal waters, but disappeared from Europe and North Africa. A few species still lived in the Campanian in the Gulf of Mexico and only plethodids survived until the end of Maastrichtian.[4]