''Benedenius'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine
ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...
. It is known from the
Early Carboniferous
Early may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Early, Iowa, a city
* Early, Texas, a city
* Early Branch, a stream in Missouri
* Early County, Georgia
* Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort
Music
* Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...
of
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
.
It was named after Belgian paleontologist
Pierre-Joseph van Beneden.
It contains two species:
* ''B. deneensis''
(van Beneden, 1871)
* ''B. soreili''
Fraipont, 1890
Formerly classified as a "
paleonisciform", more recent studies suggest that it belongs to an early order of deep-bodied actinopterygians known as the
Eurynotiformes. It is generally classified within the
Styracopteridae, though at least one recent study treats it as a member of the
Amphicentridae.
See also
*
Prehistoric fish
__NOTOC__
Prehistoric fish are early fish that are known only from fossil records. They are the earliest known vertebrates, and include the first and extinct fish that lived through the Cambrian to the Quaternary. The study of prehistoric fish is ...
*
List of prehistoric bony fish
This list of prehistoric bony fish is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all Genus, genera from the fossil record that have ever been considered to be bony fish (class Osteichthyes), excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includ ...
References
Eurynotiformes
Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera
Fossils of Belgium
Mississippian ray-finned fish of Europe
Viséan genera
Fossil taxa described in 1878
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