''Hyneria'' is a genus of large

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

predatory

lobe-finned fish Sarcopterygii (; ) — sometimes considered synonymous with Crossopterygii () — is a taxon (traditionally a class or subclass) of the bony fishes known as the lobe-finned fishes. The group Tetrapoda, a mostly terrestrial superclass includi ...

which lived in freshwater during the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

period around 360 million years ago.

Etymology

The genus name ''Hyneria'' is a reference to the village of

Hyner, Pennsylvania Hyner is an unincorporated community in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community is located along the West Branch Susquehanna River and Pennsylvania Route 120 east of Renovo. Fossil discoveries Fossils of extinct species have b ...

, near where the first specimen was found. The species epiphet ''H. lindae'' is derived from the name of the wife of Keith Stewart Thomson, who described this fish.

Description

''Hyneria'' was a large fish, with discovered remains estimated between in total length. Its skull had heavy, ornamented dermal bones and its lower jaw was relatively long and shallow. The teeth were stout with those of the

premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammal has b ...

forming fangs upwards of . Its body was covered by

cycloid In geometry, a cycloid is the curve traced by a point on a circle as it rolls along a straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette, a curve generated by a curve rolling on another curve ...

scales. It had large sensory canals to aid in detection of possible prey, as the freshwater environment it inhabited likely was murky and had low visibility. Adult individuals retained the juvenile features (i.e. partially unossified skeletons), suggesting that they were likely

neotenic Neoteny (), also called juvenilization,Montagu, A. (1989). Growing Young. Bergin & Garvey: CT. is the delaying or slowing of the physiological, or somatic, development of an organism, typically an animal. Neoteny is found in modern humans compared ...

Discovery

The original fossils came from two localities in Pennsylvania, United States, one found between the villages of North Bend and Hyner and another near Emporium. They consisted of a disarticulated partial skull and fragments of the shoulder girdle. The fossils were found in the

Catskill Formation The Devonian Catskill Formation or the Catskill Clastic wedge is a unit of mostly terrestrial sedimentary rock found in Pennsylvania and New York. Minor marine layers exist in this thick rock unit (up to ). It is equivalent to the Hampshire For ...

of the Red Hill Shale, dating to the upper

. These were the only remains known until 1993 when a renewed collecting effort discovered abundant new material. ''Hyneria'' is considered the largest and most common lobe-finned fish found in the Red Hill Shale.

References

External links

''Hyneria''
at ''Devonian Times'' Tristichopterids Prehistoric lobe-finned fish genera Devonian fish of North America Late Devonian animals Fossil taxa described in 1968 {{paleo-lobefinned-fish-stub