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Protopterus
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Protopterus

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Also known as african lungfish

Protopterus is the genus of four species of lungfish found in Africa. Protopterus is considered the sole genus in the family Protopteridae, which is grouped with Lepidosiren in the order Lepidosireniformes.''''''

Species

GENUS

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassDipneusti
  4. OrderCeratodontiformes
  5. FamilyProtopteridae
Habitatfreshwater
Observations recorded3,024

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
112
With media
4
Family
Lepidosirenidae
Collections
CUMV, MNHN, UCMP, NHMUK
Recorded in
Uganda, Mali, Egypt, Brazil, Somalia, Gambia

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Parent taxon
Protopteridae
Image
Gőtehal-2.jpg
Show 5 more facts
taxon rank
genus
taxon name
Protopterus
Commons category
Protopterus
topic's main category
Category:Protopterus
Commons gallery
Protopterus
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~5 min read

Encyclopedic overview

6 sections
Contents
  • Taxonomy
  • Description
  • Biology
  • As food
  • Species and subspecies
  • References

Protopterus is the genus of four species of lungfish found in Africa. Protopterus is considered the sole genus in the family Protopteridae, which is grouped with Lepidosiren in the order Lepidosireniformes.'

== Taxonomy == The earliest fossils of the Protopteridae come from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of Sudan, but phylogenetic evidence indicates that it and Lepidosirenidae split at the very beginning of the Early Cretaceous, around 145 Ma.' Together, their common ancestor diverged from the only other extant lungfishes in Neoceratodontidae during the Late Jurassic.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Protopterus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (9)