Megalocoelacanthus
| Megalocoelacanthus Temporal range: Cretaceous
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| Megalocoelocanthus dobiei mounted skull in the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park, Colorado | |
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| Genus: | Megalocoelacanthus
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Megalocoelocanthus dobiei | |
Megalocoelacanthus dobiei is an extinct species of giant latimeriid coelacanth lobe-finned fish which lived during the Lower Campanian epoch until possibly the early Maastrichtian in the Late Cretaceous period in the Western Interior Seaway and Mississippi Embayment. Its disarticulated remains have been recovered from the Eutaw Formation, Mooreville Chalk Formation, and Blufftown Formation of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, and also from the Niobrara Formation of Kansas. Although no complete skeleton is known, careful examination of skeletal elements demonstrate it is closely related to the Jurassic-aged coelacanthid Libys.
References
- Citations
- Schwimmer, D.R.; Stewart, J.D.; Williams, G.D. 1994: Giant fossil coelacanths of the Late Cretaceous in the eastern United States. Geology, 22(6): 503-506.
- Dutel, H.; Maisey, J.G.; Schwimmer, D.R.; Janvier, P.; Herbin, M.; Clément, G. 2012: The Giant Cretaceous Coelacanth (Actinistia, Sarcopterygii) Megalocoelacanthus dobiei Schwimmer, Stewart & Williams, 1994, and Its Bearing on Latimerioidei Interrelationships. PLoS ONE
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