Otocephala is a clade of ray-finned fishes within the infraclass Teleostei that evolved some 230 million years ago. It is named for the presence of a hearing (otophysic) link from the swimbladder to the inner ear. Other names proposed for the group include Ostarioclupeomorpha and Otomorpha.
The clade contains Clupeiformes (herrings) and Ostariophysi, a group of other orders including Cypriniformes (minnows and allies), Gymnotiformes (knifefish), and Siluriformes (catfish). Otocephala may also contain Alepocephaliformes (slickheads), but as yet (2016) without morphological evidence.
The clade is sister to Euteleostei which contains the majority of bony fish alive today.[1][2][3][4]
In 2015, Benton and colleagues set a "plausible minimum" date for the origin of crown Otocephala as about 228.4 million years ago. They argued that since the oldest locality for any diversity of stem teleosts is the Carnian of Polberg bei Lunz, Austria, whose base is 235 million years old, a rough estimate for Otocephala can be made.[5][6] The earliest known fossil member of the group is Tischlingerichthys from the Late Jurassic of Germany.[7]
^Thomas J. Near; et al. (2012). "Resolution of ray-finned fish phylogeny and timing of diversification". PNAS. 109 (34): 13698–13703. Bibcode:2012PNAS..10913698N. doi:10.1073/pnas.1206625109. PMC 3427055. PMID 22869754.
^Betancur-R, Ricardo; et al. (2013). "The Tree of Life and a New Classification of Bony Fishes". PLOS Currents Tree of Life. 5 (Edition 1). doi:10.1371/currents.tol.53ba26640df0ccaee75bb165c8c26288. hdl:2027.42/150563. PMC 3644299. PMID 23653398.
^Laurin, M.; Reisz, R.R. (1995). "A reevaluation of early amniote phylogeny". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 113 (2): 165–223. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1995.tb00932.x.
^Nelson, Joseph S.; Grande, Terry C.; Wilson, Mark V. H. (2016). Fishes of the World. Wiley. pp. 161–162 and passim. ISBN 978-1-119-22081-7.
^"Otocephala". Palaeontologia Electronica. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
^Benton, M.J.; Donoghue, P.C.J.; Asher, R.A.; Friedman, M.; Near, T.J. & Vinther, J. (2015). "Constraints on the timescale of animal evolutionary history". Palaeontologia Electronica. 18 (1): 18.1.1FC. doi:10.26879/424. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
Otocephala is a clade of ray-finned fishes within the infraclass Teleostei that evolved some 230 million years ago. It is named for the presence of a hearing...
roughly 150 million years ago; fossils of them and the closely related Otocephala are known from throughout the Cretaceous. The Protacanthopterygii contain...
peculiarly expanded to above and below at its caudal end, and like in some Otocephala, the caudal part of the mesethmoid appears compressed when seen from above...
Ostariophysi and Clupeomorpha (the taxon Ostarioclupeomorpha, also known as Otocephala, was coined to describe this possibly monophyletic group). Ostariophysian...
Clupeocephala Family †Orthogonikleithridae Order †Tselfatiiformes Cohort Otocephala Superorder Clupeomorpha Order †Ellimmichthyiformes Order Clupeiformes...
2011. Leptoderma macrophthalmum n. sp., a new species of smooth-head (Otocephala: Alepocephalidae) from the Mid Atlantic Ridge. Zootaxa 2876:49-56. Froese...
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