Polypterus

Polypterus is a genus of freshwater fish in the bichir family (Polypteridae) of order Polypteriformes. The type species is the Nile bichir. Fish in this genus live in various areas in Africa. Polypterus is the only known vertebrate to have lungs, but no trachea.

Polypterus

Ubs6u!d-pongsakorn · 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
Also called
bichirPBDB
Sits inside
PolypteridaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Polypteridae

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 3 of 55 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 55 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 11 of 55 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 55 occurrencesPleistocene — about 27 of 55 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences8.2–6.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.9–3.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 17 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 17 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka49 Mya0 Mya

55 occurrences of Polypterus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

55 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

13 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.89°N, 36.29°EKoobi Fora — 4.31°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 3.77°N, 36.44°EKoobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.08°N, 36.35°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EBeglia — 34.00°N, 8.00°ELothagam 1 — 2.88°N, 36.07°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.88°N, 36.07°EMuluk — 30.42°N, 30.25°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ELothidok — 3.33°N, 35.75°ETurkana Grit — 2.33°N, 35.83°ELokone Sandstone — 2.22°N, 35.57°EMaradah — 28.58°N, 19.90°E

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The named rock units Polypterus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Polypterus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Polypterus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

569 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 55 sites for Polypterus, 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

28 references

Each of the 55 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. 16 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 content2

Picture of Polypterus

Credit
Ubs6u!d-pongsakorn
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Polypterus senegalus · FMNH:Fishes:93539

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 itPolypteridae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lacépède 1803