Phylum Chordata Order Coelacanth | Class Sarcopterygii Scientific name Mawsonia gigas Rank Species | |
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Genus †MawsoniaWoodward, 1907 Similar Coelacanth, Mawsoniidae, Axelrodichthys, Actinistia, Diplurus | ||
Mawsonia is an extinct genus of prehistoric coelacanth fish, and the largest of this group, up to several meters long. It lived during the Cretaceous period (Albian and Cenomanian stages, about 99 to 112 million years ago). Fossils have been found in Africa and South America. Mawsonia was first described by British palaeontologist Arthur Smith Woodward in 1907.
Description
Mawsonia was a large coelacanth which lived in what is now the Kem Kem Beds and Bahariya Formation in North Africa, during the Cretaceous. Mawsonia was around 4–6 meters in length, around the size of a rhinoceros. Like modern coelacanths, Mawsonia was possibly an opportunistic carnivore that could have eaten fish and large invertebrates.
References
Mawsonia (fish) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA