Oldest polypterus??
- Thread starter Ichthyotopia
- Start date
Since the fossils record is incomplete, nobody really know for sure. However the sister lineage to all known living Polypterus is the Polypterus Mokelebembe. It was thought to be Polypterus Ansorgii, but new studies changed that to Polypterus Mokelebembe.
You can't really say that the polypterus mokelembembe is the most primitive as the fossil records is incomplete. However if we talk about the living bichirs then yes, polypterus mokelembembe is the most primitive living bichirs of today.
Can you give me more info about that study (authors, publication, etc...)? I would love to read into this more.
I was always under the impression that the upper jaw bichirs diverged from the lower jaws.
I decided not to wait, I found it 
The research was done by Dai Suzuki, Matthew C. Brandley, and Masayoshi Tokita.
Here is a link to the paper for those interested: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/21
Here is a neat graph, that illustrates Ropefish as one the most basal of the Polypteridae family:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/21/figure/F2
The research was done by Dai Suzuki, Matthew C. Brandley, and Masayoshi Tokita.
Here is a link to the paper for those interested: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/21
Here is a neat graph, that illustrates Ropefish as one the most basal of the Polypteridae family:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/21/figure/F2
oh yeahh i remember this study, its a lot to absorb but its all very interesting information. i wish they did more studies on these amazing fish