HIERARCHICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE SUPERCLASS MYXINOMORPHI

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SUPERCLASS MYXINOMORPHI LINKS

The structure of the following system is a modification of Benton (2005) and Nelson (2006). Eschmeyer and Fong (2011) place the Myxini as a class within the Craniata.

SUPERCLASS MYXINOMORPHI
- These jawless fishes have all of the criteria of the craniates, but lack vertebrae, thus they are excluded from the vertebrates. They are presented here as the sister group to the vertebrates.
- CLASS MYLLOKUNMINGIIDA+
  - This class is made up of 2 or 3 genera of small (20-30 mm) animals with clear indications of gill pouches, notochord, dorsal and ventral fins, paired eyes, and square cartilaginous structures (vertebrae?) spaced along and surrounding the notochord.
  - Lower Cambrian
  - Myllokunmingia, Haikouichthys, Zhongjianichthyes.
- CLASS MYXINOIDEA
  - The hagfishes may reflect characters of the earliest craniates. They have no armor, and no paired appendages. They have a single semicircular canal in the internal ear. Their nostril connects to the pharynx and they have very reduced eyes. For respiration, water enters the pharynx and then exits through gill pouches, a hole for each pouch. Entirely marine.
  - ORDER MYXINIFORMES
    - FAMILY MYXINIDAE
    - Upper Pennsylvanian to the present
    - Myxine, Notomyxine, Neomyxine, Nemamyxine, Eptatretus, Paramyxine, Qudratus, Myxinikela+

LITERATURE CITED

Benton, M. J. 2005. Vertebrate Paleontology. Third Edition. Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA.

Delarbre, C., C. Gallut, V. Barriel, P. Janvier, and G. Gachelin. 2002. Complete mitochondrial DNA of the hagfish, Eptatretus burgeri: the comparative analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences strongly supports the cyclostome monophyly. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 22: 184–192.

Eschmeyer, M. N. and J. D. Fong. 2011. “Pisces”. IN: Zhang, Z-Q., ed. Animal biodiversity: an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa. 3148: 26-38.

Janvier, P. 2008a. Early jawless vertebrates and cyclostome origins. Zoological Science. 25: 1045-1056.

Monastersky, R. 1999. Waking up to the dawn of vertebrates. Science News. 158(19): 292.

Nelson, J. S. 2006. Fishes of the World. 4th edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York.

Shu, D. G., H. L. Luo, S. Conway Morris, X. L. Zhang, S. X. Hu, L. Chen, J. Han, M. Zhu, Y. Li, and L. Z. Chen. 1999. Lower Cambrian vertebrates from south China. Nature. 402: 42-46.

By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 12/30/2013

HIERARCHICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE SUPERCLASS MYXINOMORPHI

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