A group of scientists managed to identify it in South Africa a new species of large predatory fish dating back about 360 million years. The remains were recovered during an excavation at Waterloo Farm in Cacadu County Municipality, Eastern Cape. it is believed that the animal was almost 3 meters long, making it a giant Tristichoptrids, a diverse group of fish that lived during the Middle and Late Devonian period.
In appearance, the found specimen resembles the known species Hyneria lindae. These fish, also of the tristicopterid group, were distributed globally during the Famenian (the last of the two faunal stages in the Late Devonian), and are one of the most common non-marine species found where they were once saline ecosystems. Its enormous distribution range shows the interconnectedness of the Fameni world. but where exactly they occur on Earth is the subject of ongoing research.
This new tristicopterid species Found on a roadside embankment outside of Makhanda/Grahamstown, announcing the authors of a new paper, is now held at the Albany Museum. It consists of skin bones and parts of the skeleton and fins, enough material to reconstruct the complete skull morphology.
Sample merges mandala as one of the only large tristicopterid fish in which full body recreation is possible. The size of its bones indicated it was about 2.7 meters long, making it a giant of its kind.
The geological environment in which the remains were preserved has resulted in some fine details, including some scales, to survive over time.but curiously the teeth survived in worse conditions than bones.
The new species has been named hyneria udlezinye and takes its surname from the Isixhosa language, where ‘udlezinye’ means ‘eating others’, refers to the predatory lifestyle of the gigantic species. IsiXhosa is the widely spoken indigenous language of southeast South Africa where the fossil was found.
“discovery hyneria udlezinye It increases the known diversity of large and late tristicopterids and introduces us to the largest non-cartilaginous predator of the Waterloo Farm ecosystem (vertebrates in general) from the Late Devonian,” conclude the study’s authors.
Reference work: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281333
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