''Changxingia'' is a

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 ...

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 ...

marine

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 ...

that belonged to the

coelacanth Coelacanths ( ) are an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia. As sarcopterygians, they are more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods (the terrestrial vertebrates including living amphibians, reptiles, bi ...

family

Mawsoniidae Mawsoniidae is an extinct family of prehistoric coelacanth fishes which lived during the Triassic to Cretaceous periods. Members of the family are distinguished from their sister group, the Latimeriidae (which contains the living coelacanths of t ...

. It lived during the

Late Permian Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Groh ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

, southern China. It contains two species, ''C. aspiratilis'' Wang & Liu, 1981 (the type species) and ''C. weii'' Jin, 1997, which were named in 1981 and 1997 from specimens found at the same locality. They are the first Permian marine coelacanths found in Asia. It is thought to be the oldest known representative of the family

, which are related to the extant latimeriids, although this placement has been disputed and little taxonomic analysis has been done to verify it. It is named after the Changxing Formation, the geological formation it was found in, which also gives its name to the

Changhsingian In the geologic time scale, the Changhsingian or Changxingian is the latest age or uppermost stage of the Permian. It is also the upper or latest of two subdivisions of the Lopingian Epoch or Series. The Changhsingian lasted from to 251.9 Ma a ...

, the final stage of the Permian period.

References

Mawsoniidae Prehistoric lobe-finned fish genera Permian bony fish Late Permian fish Permian sarcopterygians of Asia Changhsingian genera Fossils of China Fossil taxa described in 1981 {{paleo-lobefinned-fish-stub