Plethodidae is an extinct

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

teleost Teleostei (; Greek ''teleios'' "complete" + ''osteon'' "bone"), members of which are known as teleosts ), is, by far, the largest infraclass in the class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes, containing 96% of all extant species of fish. Tel ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

that existed during the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

period.

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s are known from North America,

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

, and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

Description

Plethodids possessed thin,

angelfish Angelfish may refer to: *Several groups of fish: **Freshwater angelfish, tropical cichlids of the genus ''Pterophyllum'' **Marine angelfish of the family Pomacanthidae **Atlantic pomfret (''Brama brama''), sold by fishmongers as "angelfish" in Sou ...

-like bodies and often had high

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

s which made them distinctive from other types of fish. Their skeletons were partially

cartilaginous Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck a ...

, though the amount varied from one species to another.

Genera

As of 2005, there are seventeen recognized genera in the family Plethodidae: * '' Bachea'' * '' Bananogmius'' * '' Dixonanogmius'' * '' Enischnorhynchus'' * '' Luxilites'' * ''

Martinichthys ''Martinichthys'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish from the Cretaceous of North America. It is known from the Niobrara Chalk The Niobrara Formation , also called the Niobrara Chalk, is a geologic formation in North America that wa ...

'' * '' Moorevillia'' * ''

Niobrara Niobrara may refer to: * Niobrara, Nebraska * Niobrara County, Wyoming * Niobrara River * Niobrara National Scenic River * Niobrara Formation, a geological unit * Niobrara Township, Knox County, Nebraska Niobrara Township is one of thirty towns ...

'' * '' Paranogmius'' * '' Pentanogmius'' * ''

Plethodus ''Plethodus'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are ...

'' * '' Pseudonogmius'' * '' Pseudothryptodus'' * '' Syntegmodus'' * '' Thryptodus'' * '' Tselfatia'' * '' Zanclites''

References

Tselfatiiformes Prehistoric ray-finned fish families Cretaceous bony fish Late Cretaceous first appearances Late Cretaceous extinctions {{paleo-rayfinned-fish-stub