crossopterygian

Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to crossopterygian: Crossopterygii

cros·sop·te·ryg·i·an

(krŏ-sŏp′tə-rĭj′ē-ən)

Any of various lobe-finned fishes, including the coelacanths but usually not the lungfishes. No longer in scientific use.

[From New Latin Crossopterygiī, group name : Greek krossoi, fringe (from krossōtos, fringed, from krossai, projecting stone blocks) + Greek pterugia, fins, pl. diminutive of pterux, pterug-, wing; see pterygoid.]

cros·sop′te·ryg′i·an adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

crossopterygian

(krɒˌsɒptəˈrɪdʒɪən)

(Animals) any bony fish of the subclass Crossopterygii, having fleshy limblike pectoral fins. The group, now mostly extinct, contains the ancestors of the amphibians. See also coelacanth

adj

(Animals) of, relating to, or belonging to the Crossopterygii

[C19: from New Latin Crossopterygiī, from Greek krossoi fringe, tassels + pterugion a little wing, from pterux wing]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cros•sop•te•ryg•i•an

(krɒˌsɒp təˈrɪdʒ i ən)

n.

1. any fish of the group Crossopterygii, extinct except for the coelacanth, and including the ancestors of amphibians and other land vertebrates.

adj.

2. pertaining to or resembling a crossopterygian.

[1860–65; < New Latin Crossopterygi(i) (< Greek kross(oí) tassels, fringe + -o- -o- + pterýgi(on) little wing or fin, diminutive of ptéryx, s. pteryg- wing, fin) + -an¹]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

crossopterygian - any fish of the order Crossopterygii; most known only in fossil form

lobefin, lobe-finned fish

bony fish - any fish of the class Osteichthyes

Crossopterygii, subclass Crossopterygii - fishes having paired fins resembling limbs and regarded as ancestral to amphibians

coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae - fish thought to have been extinct since the Cretaceous period but found in 1938 off the coast of Africa

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

On the fish-like tail in the ichthyostegid stegocephalians with descriptions of a new stegocephalian and a new crossopterygian from the Upper Devonian of East Greenland.

New finds of fishes in the lower uppermost Famennian (Upper Devonian) of Central Russia and habitats of the Khovanshchinian vertebrate assemblages

They also described a portion of the lower jaw of a probable rhipidistian (crossopterygian) fish; the first of its kind found in Michigan.

Coprolites, cololites, and fish fossils in the Mississippian Michigan Formation, Western Michigan

However, say the West German scientists, "Such coordination could indicate another preadaptation in the crossopterygian group that could have facilitated the transition to locomotion on land.'