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Pygopterus

Extinct genus of fishes

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated June 7, 2026
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Pygopterus is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish that lived during the Wuchiapingian to Olenekian ages (late Permian to Early Triassic epochs) in what is now England, Germany (Baden-Württemberg, Saxony-Anhalt), Greenland and Svalbard (Spitsbergen). It is one of the few genera of ray-finned fish known to cross the Permian-Triassic boundary.

Fossils have been found in the Marl Slate Formation, Kupferschiefer (Werra Formation), Ravnefjeld Formation, Vikinghøgda Formation and Buntsandstein. A report about the discovery of this fish in Westphalian deposits of Belgium was likely caused by the presence of Nematoptychius which was referred to as Pygopterus in late 19th century.

01Synonyms

†Pygopterus humboldti
†Pygopterus humboldti
†Pygopterus humboldti fossil
†Pygopterus humboldti fossil
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Pygopterus”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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