A
new flying-fish fossil has been unearthed in the Guizhou Province in
south-west China. Known as Potanichthys xingyiensis, it is the earliest
example of gliding flish.
Previous fossils of this family
(Thoracopteridae) had been found in Europe and belonged to the Late
Triassic, but not only is this extremely well-preserved specimen from
the middle Triassic - millions of years earlier - it most pr
obably
shared a common ancestor with the Austrian and Italian specimens. While
the Austrian fossils have scales, the Italian specimens have none. The
Asian fossil has just 4 rows of scales heading back towards the tail.
The discovery of P. xingyiensis indicates that thoracopteridae lived at
both the western and eastern rims of the Paleo-Tethys sea (which
disappeared during the Jurassic period).
Though it shares many
features with today's gliding fish - well-developed pectoral fins,
forked asymmetrical tail with a chubby lobe - these are examples of
convergent evolution, as the Thoracopteridae family is extinct. It's
likely both fish evolved this way to escape predators, and this ability
in middle Triassic fish supplies more evidence that ocean life bounced
back fairly quickly after the devastating Permian-Triassic Great Dying (http://tinyurl.com/chzpbj7).
Photo credit: Dr. Guang-Hui Xu.
http://www.nature.com/news/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/
http://www.newscientist.com/
A
new flying-fish fossil has been unearthed in the Guizhou Province in
south-west China. Known as Potanichthys xingyiensis, it is the earliest
example of gliding flish.
Previous fossils of this family (Thoracopteridae) had been found in Europe and belonged to the Late Triassic, but not only is this extremely well-preserved specimen from the middle Triassic - millions of years earlier - it most pr
Previous fossils of this family (Thoracopteridae) had been found in Europe and belonged to the Late Triassic, but not only is this extremely well-preserved specimen from the middle Triassic - millions of years earlier - it most pr
obably
shared a common ancestor with the Austrian and Italian specimens. While
the Austrian fossils have scales, the Italian specimens have none. The
Asian fossil has just 4 rows of scales heading back towards the tail.
The discovery of P. xingyiensis indicates that thoracopteridae lived at
both the western and eastern rims of the Paleo-Tethys sea (which
disappeared during the Jurassic period).
Though it shares many features with today's gliding fish - well-developed pectoral fins, forked asymmetrical tail with a chubby lobe - these are examples of convergent evolution, as the Thoracopteridae family is extinct. It's likely both fish evolved this way to escape predators, and this ability in middle Triassic fish supplies more evidence that ocean life bounced back fairly quickly after the devastating Permian-Triassic Great Dying (http://tinyurl.com/chzpbj7).
Photo credit: Dr. Guang-Hui Xu.
http://www.nature.com/news/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/
http://www.newscientist.com/
Though it shares many features with today's gliding fish - well-developed pectoral fins, forked asymmetrical tail with a chubby lobe - these are examples of convergent evolution, as the Thoracopteridae family is extinct. It's likely both fish evolved this way to escape predators, and this ability in middle Triassic fish supplies more evidence that ocean life bounced back fairly quickly after the devastating Permian-Triassic Great Dying (http://tinyurl.com/chzpbj7).
Photo credit: Dr. Guang-Hui Xu.
http://www.nature.com/news/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/
http://www.newscientist.com/
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