Polypterus bichir (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1802) is the extant Nile bichir. Given that it breathes air and can walk on land, early scientists were unsure whether this was a fish or an amphibian, then later unsure whether this was a crossopterygian or an actinopterygian. Here it nests between the Early Devonian dipnomorph, Powichthys (above) and the mid-Devonian tetrapodomorphs, lobefins that eventually developed fingers and toes. |
