''Paralycoptera wui'' is an extinct species of

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

osteoglossoid from Early

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 ...

freshwater environments of what is now China. ''P. wui'' was originally described as a lycopterid osteoglossomorph close to '' Lycoptera'', though, later, on the basis of several well preserved specimens, Xu and Chang (2009) reassessed it as a basal osteoglossoid on the basis of better-preserved fossil material.XU, G.-H. and CHANG, M.-M. (2009), Redescription of †Paralycoptera wui Chang & Chou, 1977 (Teleostei: Osteoglossoidei) from the Early Cretaceous of eastern China. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 157: 83–106. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00532.x Xu and Chang also synonymized the second described species, ''P. changi'', as well as '' Tanolepis'' and '' Yungkangichthys hsitanensis'' (while neglecting the Japanese species, ''Y. macrodon''), alleging that all of them were too similar to ''P. wui'' to merit separate generic or specific status, and that any anatomical differences between these taxa were due to

taphonomic Taphonomy is the study of how organisms decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record. The term ''taphonomy'' (from Greek , 'burial' and , 'law') was introduced to paleontology in 1940 by Soviet scientist Ivan Efrem ...

distortions of the specimens. In the same study, Xu and Chang also synonymized the related Japanese osteoglossomorph genus, ''

Aokiichthys ''Aokiichthys'' is an extinct genus of basal osteoglossoid from an Early Cretaceous freshwater palaeolake of what is now Kyushu, Japan. The genus formed a species radiation in the First Formation within the Wakino Subgroup of the Kwanmon Gro ...

'', on the basis of the two genera having an almost identical number of

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characterist ...

e, though they did not specify whether they were simply merging the two genera together, or if all the species within ''Aokiichthys'' were to be demoted as

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are ...

of ''P. wui''.

References

Osteoglossiformes Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Cretaceous bony fish Early Cretaceous fish of Asia Prehistoric animals of China {{paleo-rayfinned-fish-stub