Ceratodus


Ceratodus is an extinct genus of freshwater lungfish that was found worldwide during the Mesozoic Era. It has been described as a "catch all", and a "form genus" used to refer to the remains of a variety of lungfish belonging to the extinct family Ceratodontidae. Fossil evidence dates back to the Early Triassic. A wide range of fossil species from different time periods have been found around the world in places such as the United States, Argentina, Greenland, England, Germany, Egypt, Madagascar, China, and Australia. Ceratodus is believed to have become extinct sometime around the beginning of the Eocene Epoch.

Species

The following species are known:
  • C. latissimus Agassiz, 1837 - Late Triassic of England
  • C. eruciferus Cope, 1876
  • C. robustus Knight, 1898 - Late Jurassic of Wyoming, US
  • C. africanus Haug, 1905
  • C. avus W. H. Ferguson 1906 - Early Cretaceous of Victoria, Australia
  • C. humei Priem, 1914 - Late Cretaceous of Egypt
  • C. elegans Vollrath, 1923
  • C. frazieri Ostrom, 1970 - Early Cretaceous of Wyoming & Montana, US, potentially Campanian of New Jersey, US
  • C. gustasoni Kirkland, 1987 - Late Cretaceous of Utah, US
  • C. fossanovum Kirkland, 1998
  • C. stewarti Milner & Kirkland, 2006 - Early Jurassic of Utah, US
  • C. texanus Parris et al., 2011 - Aptian/Albian of Texas, US
  • C. carteri Main et al., 2014 - Cenomanian of Texas, US
  • C. kranzi Frederickson et al., 2016 - Albian of Maryland, US
  • C. kirklandi Frederickson & Cifelli, 2016 - Early Cretaceous of Utah, US
  • C. molossus Frederickson & Cifelli, 2016 - Cenomanian of Utah, US
  • C. kempae Frederickson & Cifelli, 2016 - Valanginian of Utah, US
  • C. nirumbee Frederickson & Cifelli, 2016 - Albian of Montana, US
  • C. tunuensis Agnolin et al., 2018 - Late Triassic of Greenland
  • C. guanganensis Wang et al., 2022 - Late Jurassic of China
  • C. shishkini Minikh, 2023 - Middle/Late Triassic of Orenburg, Russia

    Palaeoecology

Ceratodus likely fed on bivalves, as scarring on the shells of non-marine bivalves from a clay pit near Lipie Śląskie in southern Poland has been attributed to an unsuccessful predatory attack by Ceratodus.