''Hyneria'' is a genus of large

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

predatory

lobe-finned fish Sarcopterygii (; )—sometimes considered synonymous with Crossopterygii ()—is a clade (traditionally a class or subclass) of vertebrate animals which includes a group of bony fish commonly referred to as lobe-finned fish. These vertebrates ar ...

which lived in

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

during the

Famennian The Famennian is the later of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian epoch. The most recent estimate for its duration is that it lasted from around 371.1 to 359.3 million years ago. An earlier 2012 estimate, still used by the International Commis ...

stage of the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

period.

Etymology

The genus name ''Hyneria'' is a reference to the village of Hyner, Pennsylvania, near where the first specimen was found. The species

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

''H. lindae'' is derived from the name of the wife of Keith Stewart Thomson, who described this fish.

Description

''Hyneria'' was a large fish. ''H. lindae'' is estimated around in total length. An isolated

cleithrum The cleithrum (: cleithra) is a membrane bone which first appears as part of the skeleton in primitive Osteichthyes, bony fish, where it runs vertically along the scapula. Its name is derived from Greek κλειθρον = "key (lock)", by analogy ...

AM 6545 likely belongs to an individual of at least in length. The largest complete jaw reaches , but there is much larger fragment possibly from a jaw about twice that length, although that specimen may belong to a rhizodont instead. Assuming this jaw fragment does pertain to ''Hyneria'', and assuming proportions similar to more complete tristichopterids, it suggests ''H. lindae'' could possibly reach lengths up to 3.5 metres (11 ft). A second species, ''H. udlezinye'', was once estimated as having a length of between before being described. However, the species description estimates that the largest specimen belongs to an animal about . 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 mammals h ...

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 Rolling, rolls along a Line (geometry), straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette (curve), roulette, a curve g ...

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 juvenile features (i.e. partially unossified skeletons), suggesting that they were likely neotenic.

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 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. In February 2023 a second species of ''Hyneria'', ''H. udlezinye'', was named from remains discovered in the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte. These remains include the skull and shoulder girdle.

References

External links

''Hyneria''
at ''Devonian Times'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q132969 Tristichopteridae Prehistoric lobe-finned fish genera Late Devonian sarcopterygians Devonian sarcopterygians of Africa Devonian sarcopterygians of North America Fossil taxa described in 1968 Famennian genera Devonian South Africa Devonian Pennsylvania