Janassa is an extinct genus of petalodont cartilaginous fish that lived in marine environments in what is now central United States of America and Europe during the Carboniferous and upper Permian.[1]

Janassa
Temporal range: Lower Carboniferous to Lopingian
Janassa bituminosa & Menaspis armatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Holocephali
Order: Petalodontiformes
Family: Janassidae
Genus: Janassa
Species
  • J. bituminosa (Schlotheim, 1820) (type species)
  • J. clavata M'Coy, 1855
  • J. kochi Nielsen, 1932
  • J. clarki Lund, 1989
  • J. unguicula (Eastman, 1903)
Model of Janassa
Teeth of Janassa

It is known from teeth and a few poorly preserved body fossils from Germany (Kupferschiefer, Upper Permian) and England (Marl Slate, Upper Permian).

According to the fossils, Janassa had a body plan very similar to that of the modern skate. Its teeth suggest it crushed and ate shellfish, such as brachiopods.

References

edit
  1. ^ Schaumberg, Günther (1977). "Die Richelsdorfer Kupferschiefer und seiner Fossilien, III". Aufschluss. 28: 297–352.