In this article we are going to delve into Cretazeus, a topic that has been the subject of interest and debate for a long time. Cretazeus is a topic that has captured the attention of academics, experts and the general public, generating a series of conflicting opinions and diverse positions. Over the years, Cretazeus has been the subject of study in different fields of knowledge, which has enriched the debate around this topic. In this article we will try to shed light on Cretazeus, exploring its different dimensions and perspectives to achieve a deeper understanding of its importance and relevance today.
Cretazeus Temporal range:
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Life restoration | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Zeiformes |
Family: | †Cretazeidae Tyler, Bronzi & Ghiandoni, 2000 |
Genus: | †Cretazeus Tyler, Bronzi & Ghiandoni, 2000 |
Species: | †C. rinaldii
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Binomial name | |
†Cretazeus rinaldii Tyler, Bronzi & Ghiandoni, 2000 [1]
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Cretazeus is an extinct genus of marine zeiform fish from the Late Cretaceous.[2] It contains a single species, Cretazeus rinaldii from the late Campanian or early Maastrichtian age of Nardò, Italy. It is the oldest known zeiform fish, and is alternatively considered the only member of the family Cretazeidae or the most basal member of the family Parazenidae.[3][4][5]
Uniquely, despite its age, Cretazeus is considered a derived zeiform nested within the order's crown group, as the sister to the Parazenidae; many other lineages of both extant and fossil zeiforms are more basal than Cretazeus, despite only appearing later in the geological record. This suggests that several lineages of zeiforms were present during the Late Cretaceous and survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, with several surviving to the present day, despite this not being preserved in the fossil record.[4][6][7][8]