Pachycormiformes

Pachycormiformes
Temporal range: Early Jurassic - Late Cretaceous,
Skeleton of Pachycormus
Skeleton of Orthocormus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Infraclass: Teleosteomorpha
Division: Aspidorhynchei
Order: Pachycormiformes
Berg 1937
Family: Pachycormidae
Woodward, 1895
Type genus
Pachycormus
Agassiz, 1833
Genera

See text

Synonyms
  • Diphyodontidae Jordan, 1923
  • Erisichtheidae Cope, 1877b
  • Microlepidoti Zittel, 1887
  • Pelecopteridae Cope, 1875
  • Protosphyraenidae Lydekker, 1889
  • Sauropsidae Cope, 1877a
  • Saurotomini [Saurostomini] Bonaparte, 1846 corrig. Bonaparte 1850a

Pachycormiformes is an extinct order of marine ray-finned fish known from the Early Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous. Depending on the treatment, it only includes a single family, Pachycormidae, or two families: the mostly filter-feeding Pachycormidae and the carnivorous Protosphyraenidae. They were characterized by having serrated pectoral fins (though more recent studies demonstrated that fin shape diversity in this group was high), reduced pelvic fins and a bony rostrum. Pachycormiformes are morphologically diverse, containing both tuna and swordfish-like carnivorous forms, as well as edentulous suspension-feeding forms.