Article: Fishes and amphibians from the Late Permian Pedra de Fogo Formation of northern Brazil
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
34
Part:
3
Publication Date:
September
1991
Page(s):
561
–
573
Author(s):
C. Barry Cox and P. Hutchinson
Abstract
The vertebrate fauna of the Pedra de Fogo Formation of northern Brazil includes a palaeonisciform fish Brazilichthys macrognathus gen. et sp. nov., which is placed in a new family, the Brazilichthyidae. Other fishes include fragments of ctenacanth and xenacanth sharks, edestid holocephalians, and dipnoans. Tetrapods include the archegosaurid amphibian Prionosuchus plummeri, which is compared with other archegosaurs. Its extremely long narrow snout suggests that the Pedra de Fogo Formation is of Late Permian age, rather than Early Permian. A large specimen of Prionosuchus is probably the longest amphibian currently known.