Sarcopterygii (from Greek sarx, flesh, and pteryx, fin) is traditionally the class of lobe-finned fishes, consisting of lungfish and coelacanths. These are bony fish with paired rounded fins. These fins, being similar to limbs, suggest that these fish may be ancestors of land vertebrates.

Most taxonomists who subscribe to the cladistic approach include within this group the superclass Tetrapoda, which in turns consists of all species of four-limbed vertebrates. The fin-limbs of sarcopterygiians show such a strong similarity to the expected ancestral form of tetrapod limbs that they have been universally considered the direct ancestors of tetrapods in the scientific literature.

Taxonomy and Phylogeny

• Class SARCOPTERYGII
  • Subclass Coelacanthimorpha
    • Order Coelacanthiformes
  • Rhipidistia
    • Subclass Dipnoi
      • Order Ceratodontimorpha
    • Subclass Tetrapodomorpha
      • Order Rhizodontida
      • Superorder Osteolepidida
        • Family Tristichopteridae
          • Eusthenopteron
          • Hyneria
        • Order Osteolepiformes
      • Order Panderichthyida
      • Tiktaalik
      • Tetrapoda

This level of taxonomy is in flux however; the membership of Sarcopterygii is likely to change, and it may even be discontinued as a classification.

Lobe-finned fish | Bony fish

Ръкоперки | Sarcopterigi | Fleischflosser | Sarcopterygii | Sarcopterygii | Sarcopterygii | בעלי סנפירים בשרניים | Mėsingapelekės žuvys | Sarcopterygii | Sarcopterygii | Mięśniopłetwe | Sarcopterygii | Násadcoplutvovce | Саркоптеригије | Varsieväiset | Lobfeniga fiskar | 总鳍鱼类