Euteleostomi
| Euteleostomes Temporal range: Silurian-Recent |
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Infraphylum: | Gnathostomata |
| (unranked): | Teleostomi |
| (unranked): | Euteleostomi |
Euteleostomi is a successful clade that includes more than 90% of the living species of vertebrates. Euteleostomes are also known as "bony vertebrates". Both major subgroups are successful today: Actinopterygii includes the majority of extant fish species, and Sarcopterygii includes the tetrapods. This clade is sometimes called "Osteichthyes", but since that name literally means "bony fish" and traditionally is a paraphyletic group that excludes tetrapods, the name Euteleostomi was coined as a substitute.
Euteleostomes originally all had endochondral bone, fins with lepidotrichs, and jaws lined by maxillary, premaxillary, and dentary bones. Many of these characters have since been lost by descendant groups, however, such as lepidotrichs lost in tetrapods, and bone lost among the chondrostean fishes.
[edit] Classification
Euteleostomi contains the following subgroups:
[edit] External links
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