Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish and terrestrial
vertebrates) Life
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Opisthokonta >
Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata
(vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi
(teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish)
Classification of fossil and living taxa recorded from southern Africa
# = extinct, known only from fossils.
Coelacanthimorpha (coelacanths)
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Dipnoi (lungfish)
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# Porolepimorpha
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# Rhizodontimorpha
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Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates)
Have muscular limbs with well-defined joints and digits (fingers and toes).
Certain cranial (head) bones have been lost, permitting the head to move
relative to the body, unlike other sarcopterygians. Not all
stegocephalians were terrestrial - some of the early representatives were
probably aquatic. The earliest known fossils are from the Upper Devonian of east Greenland. |
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# Subclass: Temnospondyli
Extinct medium-sized to large carnivores rather like
crocodiles in appearance and habitat that were the dominant tetrapods in the
Carboniferous and which occupied habitats ranging from aquatic to
terrestrial. Known from the Middle and Late Permian deposits in South
Africa. |
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Tetrapoda (tetrapods)
Originated about 350 million years ago; includes the
amphibians,
reptiles
(including
birds), and
mammals. |
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