Mawsonia (fish)
| Mawsonia | |
|---|---|
| Skeleton of Mawsonia gigas, showing estimated size of largest known individual | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Sarcopterygii |
| Class: | Actinistia |
| Order: | Coelacanthiformes |
| Suborder: | Latimerioidei |
| Family: | †Mawsoniidae |
| Genus: | †Mawsonia Woodward, 1907 |
| Type species | |
| †Mawsonia gigas Woodward, 1907 | |
| Other Species | |
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Mawsonia is an extinct genus of prehistoric coelacanth fish. It is amongst the largest of all coelacanths, with one quadrate specimen (DGM 1.048-P) possibly belonging to an individual measuring 5.3 metres (17.4 feet) in length. It lived in freshwater and brackish environments from the late Jurassic to the mid-Cretaceous (Kimmeridgian to Cenomanian stages, about 152 to 96 million years ago) of South America, eastern North America, and Africa. Mawsonia was first described by British paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward in 1907.