Allenypterus montanus

Allenypterus is an extinct genus of coelacanths. Fossils have been discovered in Bear Gulch Limestone, Montana, USA, which dates to the Serpukhovian stage of the late Early Carboniferous (Mississippian). Its caudal fin morphology is highly unusual among coelacanths, with the caudal (tail) fin rays being short and extending far forwards along the body which is suggested to be an adaptation to very slow undulatory movement, similar to living notopterid and gymnotid fish and that it probably lived in weedy, sheltered environments. Its small teeth and small gape suggesting that it consumed small, slow moving soft bodied prey. It lived alongside other coelacanths, including Caridosuctor, Polyosteorhynchus, Lochmocercus, and Hadronector.

Allenypterus montanus

James St. John · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AllenypterusPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At most 3.3 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 326.9 Mya and 323.6 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Carboniferous — about 1 of 1 occurrenceCarboniferous327–327 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences327–327 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences327–327 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences327–326 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences326–326 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences326–326 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences326–326 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences326–326 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences326–326 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences326–326 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences326–325 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences325–325 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences325–325 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences325–325 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences325–325 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences325–325 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences325–325 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences325–324 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences324–324 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences324–324 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences324–324 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences324–324 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences324–324 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences324–324 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences327.4 Mya323.1 Mya

1 occurrence of Allenypterus montanus on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Heath — 46.95°N, 108.96°W

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The named rock units Allenypterus montanus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Allenypterus montanus and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Allenypterus montanus and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

9 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Allenypterus montanus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Allenypterus montanus

Credit
James St. John
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Allenypterus montanus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAllenypterus through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Melton 1969