Panderichthys

Panderichthys is a genus of extinct sarcopterygian from the late Devonian period, about 380 Mya. Panderichthys, which was recovered from Frasnian deposits in Latvia, is represented by two species. P. stolbovi is known only from some snout fragments and an incomplete lower jaw. P. rhombolepis is known from several more complete specimens. Although it probably belongs to a sister group of the earliest tetrapods, Panderichthys exhibits a range of features transitional between tristichopterid lobe-fin fishes and early tetrapods. It is named after the German-Baltic paleontologist Christian Heinrich Pander. Possible tetrapod tracks dating back to before the appearance of Panderichthys in the fossil record were reported in 2010, which suggests that Panderichthys is not a direct ancestor of tetrapods, but nonetheless shows the traits that evolved during the fish-tetrapod evolution.

Panderichthys

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 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
PanderichthyidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At most 16 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 387.95 Mya and 372.15 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Devonian — about 5 of 5 occurrencesDevonian388–388 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences388–387 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences387–387 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences387–386 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences386–386 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences386–385 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences385–385 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences385–384 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences384–383 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences383–383 Mya — about 1 occurrence383–382 Mya — about 1 occurrence382–382 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences382–381 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences381–381 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences381–380 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences380–379 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences379–379 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences379–378 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences378–378 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences378–377 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences377–377 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences377–376 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences376–376 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences376–375 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences375–374 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences374–374 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences374–373 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences373–373 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences373–372 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences372–372 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences388.4 Mya371.6 Mya

5 occurrences of Panderichthys on record, most of them in the Devonian. 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

5 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

4 formations

Gauja — 58.01°N, 25.38°EBurtnieki — 58.10°N, 25.55°ERødebjerg and Sofia Sund — 73.66°N, 23.85°WYam-Tesovo — 58.89°N, 30.56°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Panderichthys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Panderichthys and its relatives

Devonian

Where Panderichthys and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

79 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Panderichthys, and this reads all 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

5 references

Each of the 5 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. 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 Panderichthys

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Panderichthys 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 itPanderichthyidae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gross 1941