Minjinia
| Minjinia Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | †Placodermi |
| Order: | †incertae sedis |
| Genus: | †Minjinia Brazeau et al., 2020 |
| Species: | †M. turgenensis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Minjinia turgenensis Brazeau et al., 2020 | |
Minjinia turgenensis is a species of placoderm from the Devonian of Mongolia. It is known from a single specimen preserving part of the skull, including remains of endochondral bone, which indicates that a mineralised endoskeleton evolved before the split between bony and cartilaginous fish, and that it was lost in the latter group.
Minjinia, an ancient armored fish from the Devonian period, helps scientists understand how the shoulder bones of vertebrates first developed. Researchers found evidence that its skull was connected to the shoulder in a way that suggests the shoulder bones may have evolved from parts of the gill skeleton, supporting one of the main ideas about how fish fins and shoulders first appeared.