Illustration of Isityumzi mlomomde (lower right) and other Late Devonian freshwater ecosystem creatures including the early tetrapod Unzantsia. Image credit: Maggie Newman.
Sci-News has a story about a recently discovered Lungfish from South Africa. The new fish, called Isityumzi mlomomde, lived about 365 million years ago during the Devonian period in what is now modern day South Africa. Lungfish origins stretch back about 410 million years ago to the early Devonian. Details on this new find can be found in a paper published in the journal PeerJ.
Lungfish (subclass Dipnoi) are a group of lobe-finned fish with their origins stretching back to the Early Devonian period, over 410 million years ago.
They reached a peak of diversity and abundance throughout the Devonian with close to 100 species described from that time period.
More than 25 species originated in the eastern Gondwanan (Australia) waters and others are known to have lived in temperate tropical and subtropical waters of China and Morocco.
The newly-discovered species represents the only record of Late Devonian lungfish remains from the western Gondwana (South America and Africa).
Named Isityumzi mlomomde, the ancient creature is also the only lungfish known from the Witpoort Formation of South Africa.
