Kentuckia
| Kentuckia Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Family: | †Kentuckiidae Gardiner, 1993 |
| Genus: | †Kentuckia Rayner, 1951 |
| Species: | †K. deani |
| Binomial name | |
| †Kentuckia deani (Eastman, 1908) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Rhadinichthys deani Eastman, 1908 | |
Kentuckia is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine "palaeoniscoid" ray-finned fish from the Early Carboniferous (Tournaisian) of North America. It contains a single species, K. deani from the Stockdale Formation of Kentucky, US. It is the only known genus in the family Kentuckiidae.[1][2][3] It was initially described as a species of Rhadinichthys in 1907, until it was redescribed in its own genus in 1951.[2] Another Devonian species, K. hlavini Dunkle, 1964 from the Famennian-aged Cleveland Shale of Ohio, is now no longer thought to belong to this genus.[4]
Fossils of Kentuckia are abundant at one locality, with multiple specimens preserved in phosphate nodules. Although none of these nodules preserves a complete fish on its own, the partial fish preserved in these nodules are exceptionally well-preserved down to the soft tissues of the head, and allow for an approximate reconstruction of the fish's body plan and a detailed reconstruction of the internal anatomy of its neurocranium.[5]
Due to the uncrushed, three-dimensionally-preserved skulls in the nodules, it is one of the earliest ray-finned fish with properly known dermal bones and neurocrania.[2] This has allowed for an endocast of the fish's brain and associated soft tissues to be reconstructed, which found closer anatomical similarities between the brain of Kentuckia and later ray-finned fish than with earlier fish.[4]
Some studies have found it to form a distinct clade with two other early ray-finned fish, Limnomis from the Late Carboniferous of Pennsylvania, US and Cuneognathus from the Late Devonian of Greenland.[6]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ↑ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 363: 1–560. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
- 1 2 3 Rayner, Dorothy H. (1952). "III.—On the Cranial Structure of an Early Palæoniscid, Kentuckia, gen. nov". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 62 (1): 53–83. doi:10.1017/S0080456800009248. ISSN 2053-5945.
- ↑ "PBDB Taxon". paleobiodb.org. Archived from the original on 2025-01-19. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- 1 2 Giles, Sam; Friedman, Matt (2014). "Virtual reconstruction of endocast anatomy in early ray-finned fishes (Osteichthyes, Actinopterygii)". Journal of Paleontology. 88 (4): 636–651. doi:10.1666/13-094. ISSN 0022-3360.
- ↑ Eastman, Charles Rochester (1908). Devonian Fishes of Iowa. Iowa Geological Survey.
- ↑ Friedman, Matt; Blom, Henning (2006). "A NEW ACTINOPTERYGIAN FROM THE FAMENNIAN OF EAST GREENLAND AND THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF DEVONIAN RAY-FINNED FISHES". Journal of Paleontology. 80 (6): 1186–1204. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2006)80[1186:ANAFTF]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3360.
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