Entelognathus

Name: Entelognathus ‭(‬Complete jaw‭)‬.
Phonetic: En-tel-o-nay-fus.
Named By: Min Zhu,‭ ‬Xiaobo Yu,‭ ‬Per Erik Ahlberg,‭ ‬Brian Choo,‭ ‬Jing Lu,‭ ‬Tuo Qiao,‭ ‬Qingming Qu,‭ ‬Wenjin Zhao,‭ ‬Liantao Jia,‭ ‬Henning Blom‭ & ‬You'an Zhu‭ ‬-‭ ‬2013.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Gnathostomata,‭ ‬Placodermi.
Species: E.‭ ‬primordialis‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Carnivore‭?
Size: Roughly estimated at about‭ ‬20‭ ‬centimetres long.
Known locations: China,‭ ‬Yunnan Province.
Time period: Gorstian/Ludfordian‭ (‬Ludlow group‭) ‬of the Silurian.
Fossil representation: Partial remains.




       At first glance Entelognathus resembled a placoderm fish,‭ ‬yet at the‭ ‬time of the initial description in‭ ‬2013,‭ ‬the jaw structure of Entelognathus is the earliest known example of a modern jaw structure in the fossil record.‭ ‬It is still unknown exactly how Entelognathus fits in evolutionary‭ (‬if at all‭) ‬to later fish forms,‭ ‬but the jaw structure of Entelognathus is near exactly like that seen in later fish that would go on to evolve into the first land vertebrates.

Further reading
-‭ ‬A Silurian placoderm with osteichthyan-like marginal jaw bones.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Nature‭ (‬502‭)‬:‭ ‬188‭–‬193.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Min Zhu,‭ ‬Xiaobo Yu,‭ ‬Per Erik Ahlberg,‭ ‬Brian Choo,‭ ‬Jing Lu,‭ ‬Tuo Qiao,‭ ‬Qingming Qu,‭ ‬Wenjin Zhao,‭ ‬Liantao Jia,‭ ‬Henning Blom‭ & ‬You'an Zhu‭ ‬-‭ ‬2013.



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