Pholidophoridae

Pholidophoridae is an extinct family of primitive stem-teleost fish that lived during the Triassic period, from the Anisian age of the Middle Triassic to the Norian age of the Late Triassic. Most of the genera are from Europe, but one (Malingichthys) is known from China.^[1] The pholidophorids were historically united with several other stem-teleost lineages into the order Pholidophoriformes, but Pholidophoriformes in its traditional sense is now considered paraphyletic with respect to crown group teleosts.^[4]

Pholidophoridae Temporal range: Anisian–Norian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fossil of Pholidorhynchodon malzanni
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	†Pholidophoriformes
Family:	†Pholidophoridae Woodward, 1890
Genera[1]
†Annaichthys Arratia, 2013 †Ceneichthys Taverne & Capasso, 2015[2] †Eopholidophorus Zambelli, 1989 †Knerichthys Arratia, 2013 †Lombardichthys Arratia, 2017 †Malingichthys Tintori et al., 2015 †Parapholidophorus Zambelli, 1975 †Pholidoctenus Zambelli, 1977 †Pholidophoretes Griffith, 1977 †Pholidophorus Agassiz, 1832 (Type) †Pholidorhynchodon Zambelli, 1980 †Pseudopholidoctenus Arratia & Schultze, 2024[3] †Zambellichthys Arratia, 2013

Phylogeny

Below is a cladogram simplified after Bean (2021):^[5]

Teleosteomorpha	Pachycormidae Aspidorhynchidae Teleostei Archaeomaenidae Pholidophoridae Annaichthys Pholidophoretes Malingichthys Pholidoctenus Parapholidophorus Pholidophorus Lombardichthys Pholidorhynchodon Prohalecites Eurycormus Ankylophoridae Ichthyokentema Dorsetichthys Leptolepis Ascalaboidae Varasichthyidae Crown group Teleostei