Move from named Devonian and Triassic specimens to molecular models and living genomes without merging fossil occurrence, inferred event time, extant topology and nomenclatural coverage.
Each step names its evidence claims, with references below. Interactive Explorer states are available in the full application; the narrative remains an editorial synthesis.
CT scans connect particular Cheirolepis museum specimens to an imperforate propterygium and hyomandibular shaft plus peg-and-socket scales. The late Eifelian occurrence is not the global first ray-finned fish or a direct ancestor.
Specimen anatomy, stage assignment and lineage origin are separate claims.
claim:event:cheirolepis-eifelian-endoskeletonThirty duplicated-gene pairs place teleost 3R at 286.18–267.20 Ma in the study's models, before its crown-Teleostei interval. Neither interval is a fossil first appearance or an instantaneous observation.
Duplication, rediploidization and later diversification are not one synchronous causal event.
claim:event:teleost-3r-model-ageThe 2017 analysis places Fukangichthys and other scanilepiforms on the polypterid stem, revising which fossils constrain the living crown. The result is topology-sensitive and differs from the published 2014 placement.
A minimum calibration is younger than some previous calibrations; it is not the crown's birth time.
claim:event:fukangichthys-crown-actinopterygian-recalibrationNamed Rüdersdorf holotypes and referred specimens record distinct early teleosteomorph bodies near 244 Ma. Their stem placement and one-locality sample do not establish the crown-Teleostei FAD or a worldwide radiation.
The current Anisian display envelope is broader than the source's approximate locality age.
claim:event:anisian-stem-teleosteomorph-recordA spotted-gar genome, bowfin transcriptome and comparative synteny support gars plus bowfin as sister to teleosts. These present-day data do not directly date fossils or demonstrate unchanged anatomy.
A genomic outgroup to teleost duplication is not a deterministic explanation for teleost richness.
claim:event:holostei-genomic-supportGar and teleost developmental series share a hypural-diastema complex, while bowfin and other comparisons expose a mosaic. Descent with loss and latent parallelism remain alternative histories.
Soft tissues and vasculature make the living complex richer than the component usually visible in fossils.
claim:event:neopterygian-caudal-fin-mosaicGene trees and chromosome-adjacency markers support Elopomorpha plus Osteoglossomorpha as sister to Clupeocephala in the sampled living genomes. This is not a full species tree or a directly observed ancient fusion.
COL26.8 routes 35,928 strictly accepted species names below Actinopterygii (usage ID 8VR36); that is naming coverage, not 35,928 mature dossiers, verified morphologies, fossil ranges, media records or expert reviews.
claim:event:eloposteoglossocephala-genome-structure