Luoxiongichthys is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of basal

Basal (phylogenetics)

In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group forms an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...

 actinopterygian

Actinopterygii

The Actinopterygii or ray-finned fishes constitute a class or sub-class of the bony fishes.The ray-finned fishes are so called because they possess lepidotrichia or "fin rays", their fins being webs of skin supported by bony or horny spines , as opposed to the fleshy, lobed fins that characterize...

 bony fish known from the lower Middle Triassic

Middle Triassic

In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided. It spans the time between 245 ± 1.5 Ma and 228 ± 2 Ma...

 (Pelsonian substage, Anisian

Anisian

In the geologic timescale, the Anisian is the lower stage or earliest age of the Middle Triassic series or epoch and lasted from 245 million years ago until 237 million years ago, approximately...

 stage) of Luoxiong Town, Luoping County

Luoping County

Luoping County is located in Qujing Prefecture, Yunnan, China.The county of Luoping in eastern Yunnan is noted for its beautiful scenery in spring, when its fields of canola flowers are in full bloom, surrounding the area's mountains with a sea of golden flowers to spectacular effect.Located near...

 of Yunnan Province

Yunnan

Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

, southwestern China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. It is known from the holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 LPV-10144, which consists of nearly complete skeleton

Skeleton

The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...

 and skull

Skull

The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...

, from the paratype

Paratype

Paratype is a technical term used in the scientific naming of species and other taxa of organisms. The exact meaning of the term paratype when it is used in zoology is not the same as the meaning when it is used in botany...

 LPV-10120, a partial skull and from the referred materials LPV-10625, LPV-6868 and LPV-11817. It was found in the new Middle Triassic

Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...

 Lagerstätte

Lagerstätte

A Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil richness or completeness.Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds....

 of the Guanling Formation

Guanling Formation

The Guanling Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation. Plesiosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from its strata....

, Member II. It was first named by Wen Wen, Qi-Yue Zhang, Chang-Yong Zhou, Jin-Yuan Huang, Zhong Qiang Chen and Michael J. Benton

Michael J. Benton

Michael J. Benton is a British paleontologist, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol....

 in 2011

2011 in paleontology

-Lobopods:-Arachnids:-Insects:-Newly named jawless vertebrates:-Newly named acanthodian:-Newly named cartilaginous fishes:-Newly named bony fishes:-Newly named lepospondyls:-Newly named temnospondyls:-Newly named lissamphibians:...

 and the type species is Luoxiongichthys hyperdorsalis. The generic name is derived from Luoxiong Town, where the specimens were found and ichthys, "fish" from Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

. The specific name comes from hyper, "over" and dorsalis, "of the back" from Greek in reference to its elevated "hump" in front of the dorsal fin

Dorsal fin

A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...

.

Phylogeny

Cladogram

Cladogram

A cladogram is a diagram used in cladistics which shows ancestral relations between organisms, to represent the evolutionary tree of life. Although traditionally such cladograms were generated largely on the basis of morphological characters, DNA and RNA sequencing data and computational...

 after Wen et al., 2011: