Ceratodontiformes

Ceratodontiformes
Temporal range:
Neoceratodus forsteri, a neoceratodontid
Lepidosiren paradoxa, a lepidosirenid
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Sarcopterygii
Clade: Rhipidistia
Clade: Dipnomorpha
Class: Dipnoi
Order: Ceratodontiformes
Berg, 1940
Type genus
Ceratodus
Agassiz, 1837
Families
  • Neoceratodontidae
  • Lepidosirenidae
  • Protopteridae

Several extinct, see text

Native distribution of Ceratodontiformes
Synonyms
  • Lepidosireniformes L. S. Berg (No date given, per Fowler, 1947)

Ceratodontiformes is the only extant order of lungfish, containing the families Neoceratodontidae, Lepidosirenidae, and Protopteridae as well as many other extinct groups. Members of this group are the only lungfish known to have survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Although lungfish originated in marine environments, the Ceratodontiformes have been an exclusively freshwater group since the Carboniferous.

All lungfish of the order can and often do estivate (except the spotted African lungfish, which can but rarely does so). All members of the order are obligatory air-breathers; only the Australian lungfish has functioning gills when adult; members of the Lepidosirenidae have gills only when they are larvae. The South American and African lungfish also all have generally small scales and two lungs as opposed to the Australian lungfish's single lung.

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