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Dipnorhynchus

DiPNORHYNCHUS Even the earliest lungfishes were quite different to other lobe-finned fishes. For example, Dipnorhynchus' skull and braincase did not have the hinge joint that divided the skull of Coelacanths and rhipidistians into 2 parts. Its skull was a solid bony box, like that of the first land animals, the amphibians. This early lungfish had also lost its cheek teeth; these were replaced by a crushing surface of teethlike "blisters" on the palate and lower jaw. The palate was fused to the braincase (as in land animals). © 1988 by Marshall Edition Limited .