''Dicellopyge'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of freshwater

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 ...

that lived during the early

Anisian In the geologic timescale, the Anisian is the lower stage (stratigraphy), stage or earliest geologic age, age of the Middle Triassic series (stratigraphy), series or geologic epoch, epoch and lasted from million years ago until million years ag ...

age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone has been alive or something has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...

of the

Middle Triassic In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epoch (geology), epochs of the Triassic period (geology), period or the middle of three series (stratigraphy), series in which the Triassic system (stratigraphy), system is di ...

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 b ...

in what is now

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It was originally named "''Dicellopygae''" by James Brough but the name was later corrected to ''Dicellopyge'' by Peter Hutchinson. ''Dicellopyge'' is known from the lower ''Cynognathus'' Assemblage Zone, where it coexisted with fish such as ''

Lissodus ''Lissodus'' is an extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to ...

'', '' Elonichthys'', ''

Ceratodus ''Ceratodus'' (from , 'horn' and 'tooth') 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 (typically tooth ...

'', ''

Coelacanthus ''Coelacanthus'', from Ancient Greek κοῖλος (''koîlos''), meaning "hollow", and ἄκανθα (''ákantha''), meaning "spine", is a genus of extinct marine coelacanths known from the late Permian period (geology), period. It was the first ...

'', '' Helichthys'', '' Meidiichthys'', and ''

Atopocephala ''Atopocephala'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric freshwater ray-finned fish that lived during the Middle Triassic epoch. It contains a single species, ''A. watsoni'' from the Karoo Supergroup of South Africa. A potential indeterminate species ...

''.

Classification

It is the only member of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Dicellopygidae. Under a former treatment of an expanded

Palaeonisciformes The Palaeonisciformes, commonly known as "palaeoniscoids" (also spelled "paleoniscoid", or alternatively "paleoniscids") are an extinct grouping of primitive ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii), spanning from the Silurian/Devonian to the Cretaceous. ...

, it has been referred to the

Palaeoniscidae Palaeoniscidae is an extinct family of "palaeoniscoid" ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii). The family includes the genus ''Palaeoniscum'' and potentially other Palaeozoic and Mesozoic early actinopterygian genera. The name is derived from the Anc ...

as a close relative of ''

Acrolepis ''Acrolepis'' (Ancient Greek for "tip scale") is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine bony fish that lived from the Famennian stage of the Devonian to the early Triassic epoch (geology), epoch. Some species from the Early Triassic of Tasmania ...

'', '' Cornuboniscus'', '' Belichthys'', and the Amblypteridae. However, such a classification is now considered

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

Appearance

It is characterized by a short, blunt snout and a deeply cleft tail fin. Two species are known, ''D. draperi'' (Woodward, 1931) (=''D. macrodentata'') and ''D. lissocephalus'' Brough, 1931, which were contemporaries and differed in scale and tail fin morphology.

References

Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Triassic fish of Africa Middle Triassic fish Triassic bony fish Anisian genera Triassic South Africa Fossils of South Africa Fossil taxa described in 1931 {{paleo-rayfinned-fish-stub