Palaeoniscum freieslebeni (Blainville 1818, Permian, 30cm) nests with Euthynotus in the LRT. Very few differences separate them. This is the genus that served as the holotype for the Palaeoniscidae and Palaenisciformes. Here this genus is a Permians semi-lobe fin, not related to another tested Palaeoniscum macropomus.
This specimen does not look like others assigned to the same genus. According to Wikipedia, "Palaeoniscidae sensu lato has become a wastebasket taxon (probably paraphyletic). In the strict sense, the Palaeoniscidae should only encompass the genus Palaeoniscum and only those genera that are closely related to it. However, due to insufficient knowledge of Palaeoniscum and many other early actinopterygians, and because most of these taxa have never been included in cladistic analyses, it is still uncertain which genera other than Palaeoniscum should be placed in Palaeoniscidae sensu stricto to make this a monophyletic group." |