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Laugia

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Laugia
Temporal range: Induan
Laugia slab and counterslab fossils at the Geological Museum in Copenhagen
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Sarcopterygii
Class: Actinistia
Family: Laugiidae
Genus: Laugia
Stensiö, 1932
Species:
L. groenlandica
Binomial name
Laugia groenlandica
Stensiö, 1932

Laugia is an extinct genus of coelacanth fish which lived during the Induan age of the Early Triassic epoch in what is now Greenland. The type and only species, Laugia groenlandica, was collected from the Wordie Creek Formation and described by Erik Stensiö. The genus is named after Lauge Koch.[1]

Classification

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Along with the Early Triassic Belemnocerca and the Late Jurassic Coccoderma, it forms the family Laugiidae. Laugia can be distinguished from other laugiids by its smaller number of tail fin rays: 17–18 in the top lobe and 13–14 in the bottom lobe, compared to 21–22 in the top lobe for the other two genera. Most other coelacanths have symmetrical numbers of tail fin rays.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Stensiö, E. (1932). "Triassic Fishes from East Greenland collected by the Danish expeditions in 1929-1931". Meddelelser om Grønland. 83 (3): 1–305.
  2. ^ Wendruff, A.J.; Wilson, M.V. (2013). "New Early Triassic coelacanth in the family Laugiidae (Sarcopterygii: Actinistia) from the Sulphur Mountain Formation near Wapiti Lake, British Columbia, Canada". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 50 (9): 904–910. Bibcode:2013CaJES..50..904W. doi:10.1139/cjes-2013-0010.