Neha Patil (Editor)

Austroptyctodus

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Placodermi

Species
  
A. gardineri

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Ptyctodontida

Rank
  
Genus

Similar
  
Ptyctodontida, Campbellodus, Materpiscis, Rhamphodopsis, Asterosteus

Austroptyctodus gardineri is a small ptyctodontid placoderm fish from the Upper Devonian Gogo Formation of Western Australia. First described by Miles & Young (1977) as a new species of the German genus Ctenurella. Long (1997) redescribed the German material and found major differences in the skull roof pattern so assigned it to a new genus, Austroptyctodus.This genus lacks spinal plates and has Ptyctodus-like toothplates.

The most significant discovery about Austroptyctodus is that one specimen depicts a female pregnant with 3 unborn embryos inside her, showing that like Materpiscis, also from Gogo, this genus was a live bearer that reproduced through internal fertilization.

References

Austroptyctodus Wikipedia