Beijing :
Chinese scientists have recently identified a new fish genus living 244 million years ago after they examined four well-preserved specimens discovered in China’s eastern Yunnan province.
Xu Guanghui from the Chinese Academy of Sciences led a team to make the discovery in Luoping County and they named the new genus Yudaiichthys.
They have published the discovery on the online Chinese journal Vertebrata PalAsiatica, state-run China Daily reported on Friday.
The fossils represent the oldest ginglymodian fish in the world. Ginglymodi are a subgroup of primitive bony fish, including living gars and their closely related fossil taxa.
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Xu said that the new discovery provides evidence for understanding the early evolution of bony fish and the origins of ginglymodian fish.
The research team will conduct a comprehensive study to better reveal the phylogenetic relationship of bony fish by combining the study of fish fossils they previously found in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the report said.
