Parasemionotiforms were normally small to medium-sized fishes. They were predominantly marine.[3]
Evolutionary relationships
Parasemionotiformes are neopterygians, which is the clade that encompasses the vast majority of living ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) and about half of all living species of vertebrates.[4] Neopterygii are divided into Teleostei and Holostei. The latter represents a depauperate group today but used to be a diverse clade especially during the MesozoicEra. The only surviving members of the Holostei are the gars (Ginglymodi) and the bowfin (Halecomorphi).[4]
Parasemionotiformes belong to Holostei and are one of the earliest clades of the Halecomorphi (bowfin and its extinct relatives).[5] Parasemionotiformes are the sister group to all other halecomorphs according to cladistic analyses.[6]
The following tree summarizes the evolutionary relationships of the Parasemionotiformes. Names accompanied by a dagger (†) represent extinct groups.
^Romano, Carlo; López-Arbarello, Adriana; Ware, David; Jenks, James F.; Brinkmann, Winand (April 2019). "Marine Early Triassic Actinopterygii from the Candelaria Hills (Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA)". Journal of Paleontology. 93 (5): 971–1000. Bibcode:2019JPal...93..971R. doi:10.1017/jpa.2019.18. S2CID155564297.
^Romano, Carlo; Koot, Martha B.; Kogan, Ilja; Brayard, Arnaud; Minikh, Alla V.; Brinkmann, Winand; Bucher, Hugo; Kriwet, Jürgen (February 2016). "Permian-Triassic Osteichthyes (bony fishes): diversity dynamics and body size evolution". Biological Reviews. 91 (1): 106–147. doi:10.1111/brv.12161. PMID25431138. S2CID5332637.
^ abNelson, Joseph, S. (2016). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN978-1-118-34233-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Olsen, P.E. (1984). "The skull and pectoral girdle of the parasemionotid fish Watsonulus eugnathoides from the Early Triassic Sakamena Group of Madagascar, with comments on the relationships of the holostean fishes". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 4 (3): 481–499. Bibcode:1984JVPal...4..481O. doi:10.1080/02724634.1984.10012024.
^Sun, Zuoyu; Tintori, Andrea; Xu, Yaozhong; Lombardo, Cristina; Ni, Peigang; Jiang, Dayoung (April 2017). "A new non-parasemionotiform order of the Halecomorphi (Neopterygii, Actinopterygii) from the Middle Triassic of Tethys". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 15 (3): 223–240. Bibcode:2017JSPal..15..223Z. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1181679. S2CID133176227.