Mesomyzon mengae
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Mesomyzon Temporal range: Early Cretaceous Barremian–Aptian |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Hyperoartia |
| Order: | Petromyzontiformes |
| Genus: |
Mesomyzon Chang, Zhang & Miao 2006 |
| Type species | |
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Mesomyzon mengae Chang, Zhang & Miao 2006 |
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Mesomyzon mengae is an extinct lamprey from freshwater strata of the Early Cretaceous-aged Yixian Formation, in China. So far, M. mengae is the only lamprey, and by default, the only agnathan known from post-Paleozoic fossils.
The animal's exquisitely preserved fossils show a creature very similar to modern-day lampreys, having a well-developed sucking oral disk, a branchial basket, at least seven pairs of gill pouches and corresponding gill arches, impressions of gill filaments, and at least 80 myomeres of its musculature.
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