A new stem sarcopterygian illuminates patterns of character evolution in early bony fishes by Lu, J, Giles, S, Friedman, M, Zhu, M

“…Here we report a new sarcopterygian (Ptyctolepis brachynotus gen. et sp. nov.) from the Pragian (Early Devonian) of South China, which preserves the only example of a completely ossified otoccipital division of the braincase in a stem lobe-finned fish. The hyomandibular facets are paired but lie dorsal to the jugular canal, representing a hitherto unobserved combination of derived and primitive character states. …”

The oldest actinopterygian highlights the cryptic early history of the hyperdiverse ray-finned fishes by Lu, J, Giles, S, Friedman, M, Blaauwen, J, Zhu, M

“…Osteichthyans comprise two divisions, each containing over 32,000 living species [1]: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes and tetrapods) and Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes). …”