''Neoceratodus'' is a genus of

lungfish Lungfish are freshwater vertebrates belonging to the order Dipnoi. Lungfish are best known for retaining ancestral characteristics within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and ancestral structures within Sarcopterygii, i ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Neoceratodontidae Neoceratodontidae is a family of lungfish containing the extant Australian lungfish and several extinct genera. It and Lepidosirenidae represent the only lungfish families still extant. Fossils from this family are first known from Triassic-aged ...

. The extant

Australian lungfish The Australian lungfish (''Neoceratodus forsteri''), also known as the Queensland lungfish, Burnett salmon and barramunda, is the only surviving member of the family Neoceratodontidae. It is one of only six extant lungfish species in the world. ...

(''Neoceratodus forsteri'') is the only surviving member of this genus, but it was formerly much more widespread, being distributed throughout

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Species were also much more diverse in body plan; for example, the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

species '' Neoceratodus africanus'' was a gigantic species that coexisted with ''

Spinosaurus ''Spinosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa during the Cenomanian to upper Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous period, about 99 to 93.5 million years ago. The genus was known first fro ...

'' in what is now the Kem Kem Formation of

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. The earliest fossils from this genus are of ''Neoceratodus potkooroki'' from the mid Cretaceous (

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

)

Griman Creek Formation The Griman Creek Formation is a geological formation in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, Australia whose strata date back to the Albian-Cenomanian of the Early-Late Cretaceous.Bell et al., 2019 It is most notable being a major so ...

of Australia, remains from the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

assigned to this genus probably do not belong to the genus.

Species

The following species are currently classified in this genus: * †'' Neoceratodus africanus'' * †'' Neoceratodus eyrensis'' * ''

Neoceratodus forsteri The Australian lungfish (''Neoceratodus forsteri''), also known as the Queensland lungfish, Burnett salmon and barramunda, is the only surviving member of the family Neoceratodontidae. It is one of only six extant lungfish species in the world. ...

'' (Queensland lungfish) *†'' Neoceratodus potkooroki'' * †'' Neoceratodus nargun'' * †'' Neoceratodus palmeri'' Two species formerly classified in ''Neoceratodus'', ''N. gregoryi'' and ''N. djelleh'', have since been reclassified to the genera ''

Mioceratodus ''Mioceratodus'' is an extinct genus of lungfish in the family Neoceratodontidae, which also contains the extant Queensland lungfish.Consequences of Traumatic injury in Fossil and Recent Dipnoan Dentitions. Kemp, A. Journal of Vertebrate Paleont ...

'' and '' Archaeoceratodus'' respectively, as '' Mioceratodus gregoryi'' and '' Archaeoceratodus djelleh''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1216911 Lobe-finned fish genera Lungfish Extant Late Jurassic first appearances Taxa named by François-Louis Laporte, comte de Castelnau