Actinistia

Coelacanths are an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia. As sarcopterygians, they are more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods than to ray-finned fish. There is only a single living genus, Latimeria, with two described species.

Actinistia

Bruce A.S. Henderson · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
SarcopterygiiPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 338 million years on record.

The record covers at least 410.62 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 419.62 Mya to 66 Mya.

Silurian — about 0 of 381 occurrencesDevonian — about 26 of 381 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 26 of 381 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 20 of 381 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 75 of 381 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 46 of 381 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 64 of 381 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 22 of 381 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 10 of 381 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 27 of 381 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 29 of 381 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 36 of 381 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 381 occurrences427–414 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences414–402 Mya — about 1 occurrence402–390 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences390–378 Mya — about 18 occurrences378–365 Mya — about 4 occurrences365–353 Mya — about 2 occurrences353–341 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences341–329 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences329–316 Mya — about 12 occurrences316–304 Mya — about 9 occurrences304–292 Mya — about 3 occurrences292–280 Mya — about 2 occurrences280–267 Mya — about 1 occurrence267–255 Mya — about 12 occurrences255–243 Mya — about 95 occurrences243–231 Mya — about 37 occurrences231–218 Mya — about 22 occurrences218–206 Mya — about 32 occurrences206–194 Mya — about 18 occurrences194–182 Mya — about 5 occurrences182–169 Mya — about 6 occurrences169–157 Mya — about 10 occurrences157–145 Mya — about 22 occurrences145–132 Mya — about 7 occurrences132–120 Mya — about 7 occurrences120–108 Mya — about 12 occurrences108–96 Mya — about 20 occurrences96–83 Mya — about 11 occurrences83–71 Mya — about 9 occurrences71–59 Mya — about 2 occurrences410.62 Mya72.2 Mya427 Mya59 Mya

381 occurrences of Actinistia on record, most of them in the Early Triassic. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

381 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

143 formations

Kongressfjellet — 78.27°N, 16.97°EKongressfjellet — 78.24°N, 17.21°EKongressfjellet — 78.25°N, 17.84°EKongressfjellet — 78.28°N, 17.63°EKongressfjellet — 78.25°N, 18.06°EKongressfjellet — 78.57°N, 15.32°EBesano — 45.91°N, 8.94°ELockatong — 40.81°N, 74.02°WLockatong — 40.20°N, 75.27°WLockatong — 40.17°N, 75.35°WLockatong — 40.13°N, 75.52°WLockatong — 40.42°N, 75.06°WChinle — 34.44°N, 109.46°WChinle — 36.33°N, 106.47°WChinle — 36.09°N, 111.36°WChinle — 35.65°N, 111.12°WChinle — 34.68°N, 109.58°WChinle — 34.83°N, 109.82°WChinle — 38.13°N, 109.18°WChinle — 38.28°N, 108.90°WChinle — 38.15°N, 109.20°WHeath — 46.95°N, 108.96°WHeath — 46.95°N, 108.90°WSulphur Mountain — 54.53°N, 120.74°WSulphur Mountain — 54.92°N, 122.47°WSulphur Mountain — 54.94°N, 122.40°WSulphur Mountain — 54.53°N, 120.76°WKupferschiefer — 52.23°N, 7.96°EKupferschiefer — 50.97°N, 10.01°EBahariya — 28.40°N, 28.89°EBahariya — 28.43°N, 28.96°EBahariya — 28.45°N, 29.04°EWild Cow — 34.95°N, 106.30°WRaisby — 54.69°N, 1.52°WRaisby — 54.63°N, 1.63°WRaisby — 54.93°N, 1.41°WAïn el Guettar — 33.18°N, 10.26°EAïn el Guettar — 32.66°N, 10.21°EAïn el Guettar — 32.82°N, 10.25°EAïn el Guettar — 32.59°N, 10.08°ERomualdo — 7.52°S, 39.57°WRomualdo — 7.51°S, 39.55°WRomualdo — 7.47°S, 39.76°WRomualdo — 7.55°S, 40.57°WBrejo Santo — 7.25°S, 39.12°WBrejo Santo — 7.50°S, 39.00°WBrejo Santo — 7.17°S, 39.31°WProsanto — 46.75°N, 9.72°EProsanto — 46.68°N, 9.82°EStockton — 40.86°N, 73.96°WStockton — 40.33°N, 74.65°WTacuarembó — 31.88°S, 56.02°WTacuarembó — 31.70°S, 55.96°WTacuarembó — 31.87°S, 55.90°WTacuarembó — 31.80°S, 56.13°WOberer Plattenkalk — 50.99°N, 7.15°ETecovas — 33.45°N, 101.17°WTecovas — 33.42°N, 101.13°WKota — 18.92°N, 79.98°EKota — 19.19°N, 79.74°EKota — 18.69°N, 80.22°EMuschelkalk — 41.27°N, 1.12°EWordie Creek — 72.41°N, 23.49°WWordie Creek — 72.07°N, 23.75°WWordie Creek — 74.27°N, 21.00°WMiddle Sakamena — 13.05°S, 48.87°EHelongshan — 31.63°N, 117.83°EHelongshan — 31.79°N, 118.19°EChangxing — 30.18°N, 115.06°E

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The named rock units Actinistia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 119 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 63 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Actinistia and its relatives

Early Triassic

Where Actinistia and its relatives were recorded in the Early Triassic.

Found in the same rock

2,015 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 316 sites for Actinistia, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

221 references

Each of the 381 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 209 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Actinistia

Credit
Bruce A.S. Henderson
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Actinistia was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSarcopterygii through timeFormations of the Early TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Cope 1870)