Furcacaudiformes

Furcacaudiformes is an extinct order of jawless fish in the class Thelodonti.^[1]

Furcacaudiformes Temporal range: 453–358.9 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Katian - Famennian
Furcacauda fredholmae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Infraphylum:	Agnatha
Class:	†Thelodonti
Order:	†Furcacaudiformes Wilson & Caldwell, 1998
Type genus
†Furcacauda Sepkoski, 2002
Families
†Apalolepididae †Barlowodidae †Drepanolepididae †Furcacaudidae †Lanarkiidae †Nikoliviidae †Pezopallichthyidae

Because the paucity of intact fossils, especially since some families are known entirely from scale fossils, taxonomy of thelodonts is based primarily on scale morphology. A 2009 assessment of thelodont taxonomy by Wilson and Märss merges the orders Loganelliiformes, Katoporiida and Shieliiformes into Thelodontiformes, places families Lanarkiidae and Nikoliviidae into Furcacaudiformes (because of scale morphology) and establishes Archipelepidiformes as the basal-most order.^[2]