A piscivore ( / ˈ p ɪ s ɪ v ɔːr / ) is a carnivorous animal that primarily eats fish . The name piscivore is derived from Latin piscis 'fish' and vorō 'to devour'. Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage , both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evolution (via water-bound amphibians during the Devonian period); insectivory came next; then in time, the more terrestrially adapted reptiles and synapsids evolved herbivory .
22-685: Anurognathidae is a family of small, short-tailed pterosaurs that lived in Europe , Asia , and possibly North America during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Five genera are known: Anurognathus , from the Late Jurassic of Germany; Jeholopterus , from the Middle to Late Jurassic of China; Dendrorhynchoides , from the Middle Jurassic of China; Batrachognathus , from
44-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called
66-509: A study of cutthroat trout stocking, researchers found that the addition of this piscivore can have noticeable effects on non-aquatic organisms, in this case bats feeding on insects emerging from the water with the trout. Another study done on lionfish removal to maintain low densities used piscivore densities as a biological indicator for coral reef success. There exist classifications of primary and secondary piscivores. Primary piscivores, also known as "specialists", shift to this habit in
88-499: Is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to
110-797: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Piscivore Almost all predatory fishes (most sharks , tuna , billfishes , pikes etc.) are obligated piscivores. Some non-piscine aquatic animals , such as whales , sea lions , and crocodilians , are not completely piscivorous; often also preying on invertebrates , marine mammals , waterbirds and even wading land animals in addition to fish, while others, such as
132-495: The bulldog bat and gharial , are strictly dependent on fish for food. Some creatures, including cnidarians , octopuses , squid , cetaceans , spiders , grizzly bears , jaguars , wolves , snakes , turtles and sea gulls , may have fish as significant if not dominant portions of their diets. Humans can live on fish-based diets , as can their carnivorous domesticated pets such as dogs and cats . The ecological effects of piscivores can extend to other food chains. In
154-526: The derived Pterodactyloidea , such as short and fused tail bones. More recent analyses, which include more fossils and taxa, support this observation and recover the group as substantially more derived than previously thought, but still basal to pterodactyloids. In 2010 an analysis by Brian Andres indicated the Anurognathidae and Pterodactyloidea were sister taxa. This conformed better to the fossil record because no early anurognathids were known at
176-706: The Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan ; and Vesperopterylus , from the Early Cretaceous of China. Bennett (2007) suggested that the holotype of Mesadactylus , BYU 2024, a synsacrum , belonged to an anurognathid, though this affinity has been questioned by other authors. Mesadactylus is from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of the United States. Indeterminate anurognathid remains have also been reported from
198-577: The Middle Jurassic Bakhar Svita of Mongolia and the Early Cretaceous of North Korea . A family Anurognathidae was named in 1928 by Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás (as the subfamily Anurognathinae) with Anurognathus as the type genus . The family name Anurognathidae was first used by Oskar Kuhn in 1967. The phylogeny of Anurognathidae is disputed. Both Alexander Kellner and David Unwin in 2003 defined
220-466: The anurognathids in the 2018 study would also require a form of decomposition that would cause the different 'filament' forms seen. They therefore conclude that the most parsimonious interpretation of the structures is that they are filamentous proto-feathers. But Liliana D’Alba points out that the description of the preserved integumentary structures on the two anurogmathid specimens is still based upon gross morphology. She also points out that Pterorhynchus
242-475: The eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae , but that family
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#1732802595541264-508: The existence of " Dimorphodon weintraubi" may have important implications for the timing of the evolution of major pterosaur clades, making further study of this specimen critical for pterosaur research. In 2022, a phylogenetic analysis accompanying the description of Cascocauda recovered Anurognathidae as a sister clade to Breviquartossa. Anurognathids are widely believed to have been nocturnal or crepuscular akin to bats . The fact that many anurognathids have large eye sockets supports
286-540: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and
308-695: The first few months of their lives. Secondary piscivores will move to eating primarily fish later in their lifetime. It is hypothesized that the secondary piscivores' diet change is due to an adaptation to maintain efficiency in their use of energy while growing. Numerous extinct and prehistoric animals are hypothesized to have been primarily piscivorous due to anatomy and/or ecology. Furthermore, some have been confirmed to be piscivorous through fossil evidence. This list includes specialist piscivores, such as Laganosuchus , as well as generalist predators, such as Baryonyx and Spinosaurus , found to have or assumed to have eaten fish. This ecology -related article
330-427: The genus Cascocauda in 2022, found that pterosaurs had a wide array of pycnofiber shapes and structures, as opposed to the homogeneous structures that had generally been assumed to cover them. Some of these had frayed ends, very similar in structure to four different feather types known from birds or other dinosaurs but almost never known from pterosaurs prior to the study, suggesting homology. A response to this study
352-399: The group as a node clade : the last common ancestor of Anurognathus and Batrachognathus and all its descendants. Some analyses, such as that of Kellner (2003), place them as the most basal group in the pterosaur tree. Unwin also recovered the group as very basal, falling between Dimorphodontidae and Compylognathoididae . However, anurognathids have some characteristics in common with
374-575: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted
396-472: The theory of operating in low-light environments. Anurognathid teeth suggest they were largely insectivorous, though some may have had more prey choices, such as Batrachognathus and Jeholopterus, which have been hypothesized to have been piscivorous . At least some, such as Vesperopterylus , were arboreal , with claws suited for gripping tree branches. A 2018 study of the remains of two small Jurassic -age pterosaurs from Inner Mongolia , China , named as
418-535: The time, and being the basalmost pterosaur clade would require a ghost lineage of over sixty million years. However, the reassignment of " Dimorphodon weintraubi" to a basal position within Anurognathidae helps fill this gap and suggests this group appeared earlier than previously thought, possibly in the Early Jurassic Period. Depending on where Anurognathidae falls within the Pterosauria,
440-549: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,
462-404: Was described to have feathers to support the claim that feathers had a common origin with Ornithodirans but was argued against by several authors. The only method to assure if it was homologous to feathers is to use a scanning electron microscope. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae ) is one of
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#1732802595541484-517: Was published in 2020, where it was suggested that the structures seen on the anurognathids were actually a result of the decomposition of aktinofibrils: a type of fibre used to strengthen and stiffen the wing. However, in a response to this, the authors of the 2018 paper point to the fact that the presence of the structures extend past the patagium , and the presence of both aktinofibrils and filaments on Jeholopterus ningchengensis and Sordes pilosus . The various forms of filament structure present on
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