''Acrolepis'' (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

for "tip scale") is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of prehistoric bony fish that lived from the

Tournaisian The Tournaisian is in the ICS geologic timescale The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy ...

stage of the Mississippian (early Carboniferous) to the

late Permian Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...

. Some species from the

Early Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic Series, which is a un ...

of Tasmania are also ascribed to ''Acrolepis''. It is a large

piscivorous A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evoluti ...

predatory fish in the acrolepid family, which occupy an

apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic lev ...

niche in its locale. ''A. gigas'' was estimated to have grown up to in length. A close relationship between the mostly Palaeozoic

Acrolepidae Acrolepididae is an extinct family of ray-finned fish. Genera referred to Acrolepididae existed from the Early Carboniferous period to the Early Triassic epoch. They were nektonic carnivores with a fusiform body. Acrolepididae may be closely re ...

and the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

Ptycholepiformes was proposed, but support from

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analyses is scarce. Acrolepis gigas DB18

Diet

''Acrolepis'' possibly used its sharp, pointed teeth to catch small fish (most primarily Palaeonisciformes).

Fossil record

The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

is ''Acrolepis sedgwicki'' from the

Marl Slate The Marl Slate Formation is a geological formation in England. Despite its name, it is mostly dolomite rock. The Marl Slate Formation was formed about 273 to 259 million years ago, during the Guadalupian and Lopingian epochs of the late Permian ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the coeval Kupferschiefer of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Other species are known from Carboniferous and Permian rocks in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and Triassic layers of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. Specimens in possession of

Tyne & Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcas ...

Archives and Museums comprise a fossilized jawbone from the Marl Slate of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

Province.

Synonyms

* '' Acrolepis arctica'' Woodward, 1912 → ''Boreosomus'' ''acticus'' * '' Acrolepis digitata'' Woodward, 1891 → '' Namaichthys digitata'' * '' Acrolepis laetus'' Lambe, 1916 → ''Pteronisculus''? ''laetus'' Žilov CoA

Other

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of the village and municipality of Žilov,

Plzeň-North District Plzeň-North District ( cs, okres Plzeň-sever) is a district (''okres'') within Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. Its administrative center is Plzeň. The most populated municipality of the district is Nýřany. List of municipalities Bdeněv ...

in the

Plzeň Region Plzeň Region ( cs, Plzeňský kraj; german: Pilsner Region) is an administrative unit (''kraj'') in the western part of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is named after its capital Plzeň (English, german: Pilsen). In terms of area, Plzeň R ...

of the

, features a restoration of ''Acrolepis gigas'' in the center of the black-silver-red divided shield.

References

Mississippian fish Palaeonisciformes Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Permian bony fish Triassic fish Triassic bony fish Fossils of Germany {{Palaeonisciformes-stub

Diet

Fossil record

Synonyms

Other

See also

References