crossopterygian (redirected from crossopterygians)

cros·sop·te·ryg·i·an  (kr-spt-rj-n)

n.

See lobe-finned fish.

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[From New Latin Crossopterygi, group name : Greek krossoi, fringe (from krosstos, fringed, from krossai, projecting stone blocks) + Greek pterugia, fins, pl. diminutive of pterux, pterug-, wing; see pterygoid.]

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cros·sopte·rygi·an adj.

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crossopterygian  (kr-spt-rj-n)

Any of a mostly extinct group of lobe-finned fishes of the order Crossopterygii, whose only living member is the coelacanth. One group of crossopterygians is thought to have evolved into terrestrial vertebrates beginning in the Devonian Period. See more at coelacanth.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

crossopterygian - any fish of the order Crossopterygii; most known only in fossil form lobe-finned fish, lobefin bony fish - any fish of the class Osteichthyes Crossopterygii, subclass Crossopterygii - fishes having paired fins resembling limbs and regarded as ancestral to amphibians coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae - fish thought to have been extinct since the Cretaceous period but found in 1938 off the coast of Africa