Haikouichthys
extinct genus of craniate
Haikouichthys is an extinct early fish-like craniate.
| Haikouichthys Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Restoration | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Superclass: | Agnatha |
| Order: | †Myllokunmingiida |
| Family: | †Myllokunmingiidae |
| Genus: | †Haikouichthys Luo et al., 1999 |
| Species: | †H. ercaicunensis
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| Binomial name | |
| Haikouichthys ercaicunensis Luo et al., 1999
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These creatures have backbones and distinct heads, and lived about 530 million years ago, during the Cambrian explosion.
Haikouichthys had a defined skull and other characters which suggest it is a true craniate, and perhaps one of the earliest fishes. Cladistic analysis indicates that the animal is probably a basal chordate or a basal craniate.[1] It does not show enough detail to be definitely included in either stem group.[2][3]
References
change- ↑ Paleos. [1] Archived 2009-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Donoghue P.C.J. & Purnell M.A. 2005. Genome duplication, extinction and vertebrate evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20 (6): 312–319. [2] Archived 2008-12-17 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Shu D-G. et al. 2003. Head and backbone of the early Cambrian vertebrate Haikouichthys. Nature 421, 526-9, [3]