Tungsenia
| Tungsenia Temporal range: Early Devonian,
| |
|---|---|
| Tungsenia paradoxa | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Tetrapodomorpha |
| Genus: | †Tungsenia Lu et al., 2012 |
| Type species | |
| †Tungsenia paradoxa Lu et al., 2012
| |
Tungsenia is an extinct genus of lobe-finned fish known from the early Devonian Posongchong Formation of Yunnan, South China. It is the earliest and most basal tetrapodomorph known, having a mixture of traits of tetrapodomorphs and basal dipnomorphs. This not only is present in the skull itself but also in the brain which has features much more similar to dipnomorphs than to other early tetrapodomorphs. Due to this, along with a more derived mandible, it is likely that the jaw of tetrapodomorphs evolved earlier than other parts of the head. There is only one species of the genus known; T. paradoxa.