PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Polyipnus

Osteichthyes - Stomiiformes - Sternoptychidae

Taxonomy

Polyipnus was named by Günther (1887) [Sepkoski's age data: T Ol-l R Sepkoski's reference number: 2,915]. It is extant.

It was corrected as Polypnus by Steurbaut (1984).

It was assigned to Stomiiformes by Sepkoski (2002); to Sternopthychidae by Steurbaut (1984), Girone et al. (2006), Schwarzhans (2019); and to Sternoptychidae by Steurbaut (1979), Nolf and Steurbaut (1983), Stringer (1998), Constantin (1999), Schwarzhans (2013), Schwarzhans and Nielsen (2021), Lin and O’Dea (2025).

Species

P. anteasteroides, P. bandeli, P. latus, P. oligocenicus, P. plebeius, P. polli, P. sobnioviensis, P. weitzmani

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1887	Polyipnus Günther
1979	Polyipnus Steurbaut p. 57
1983	Polyipnus Nolf and Steurbaut p. 152
1984	Polypnus Steurbaut p. 47
1998	Polyipnus Stringer p. 150
1999	Polyipnus Constantin
2002	Polyipnus Sepkoski
2006	Polypnus Girone et al. p. 655
2013	Polyipnus Schwarzhans p. 156
2019	Polyipnus Schwarzhans p. 105
2021	Polyipnus Schwarzhans and Nielsen p. 16
2025	Polyipnus Lin and O’Dea

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
class	Osteichthyes
subclass	Actinopterygii	()
infraclass	Actinopteri	()

Rank	Name	Author
—	Teleosteomorpha
—	Teleostei	(Müller 1846)
—	Clupeocephala	Patterson and Rosen 1977
—	Euteleosteomorpha
—	Stomiati
order	Stomiiformes
suborder	Gonostomatoidei
family	Sternoptychidae	Gill 1863
genus	Polyipnus	Günther 1887

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. Polyipnus Günther 1887

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†Polyipnus anteasteroides Ciobanu 1977

†Polyipnus bandeli Schwarzhans and Nielsen 2021

†Polyipnus latus Nolf and Brzobohaty 2002

†Polyipnus oligocenicus Ciobanu 1977

†Polyipnus plebeius Grenfell 1984

Polyipnus polli Schultz 1961

†Polyipnus sobnioviensis Jerzmanska 1960

†Polyipnus weitzmani Steurbaut 1984

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

oceanic, marinef

Locomotion:

fast-movingf

Life habit:

nektonicf

Depth habitat:

deepf

Diet:

carnivoref

Vision:

well-developedf

Created:

2014-07-26 22:58:49

Modified:

2014-07-27 04:00:07

Source: f = family, subp = subphylum

References: Carroll 1988, Girone et al. 2006

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Rupelian to the top of the Late/Upper Pleistocene or 33.90000 to 0.01170 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 27.3 Ma

Collections (34 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Rupelian	33.9 - 27.3	Romania	P. sobnioviensis, P. oligocenicus, P. anteasteroides (113962)
Chattian	27.3 - 23.04	France	P. latus, P. weitzmani (219194)
Aquitanian	23.04 - 20.45	France	P. weitzmani (219195)
Early/Lower Miocene	23.04 - 15.98	Chile	P. bandeli (241729 241730) P. sp. (46982)
Otaian	21.7 - 18.7	New Zealand	P. plebeius (152323)
Otaian	21.7 - 18.7	New Zealand (North Island)	P. plebeius (219517 219518)
Burdigalian	20.45 - 15.98	France	P. sp. (220042) P. weitzmani (219196)
Altonian	18.7 - 15.9	New Zealand (South Island)	P. plebeius (219608)
Altonian	18.7 - 15.9	New Zealand (North Shore)	P. plebeius (219524 219525)
Langhian	15.98 - 13.82	France	P. weitzmani (219197)
Middle Miocene	15.98 - 11.63	Japan (Aichi)	P. sp. (161449)
Tortonian	11.63 - 7.246	Italy	P. sp. (178120 187503 187505 187506 187507 187596)
Messinian	7.246 - 5.333	Panama	P. sp. (172931)
Early/Lower Pliocene	5.333 - 3.6	Taiwan (Taiwan)	P. sp. (237150 237151 237152)
Early/Lower Pliocene	5.333 - 3.6	Taiwan (Kaohsiung)	P. sp. (276047)
Early/Lower Pliocene	5.333 - 3.6	Taiwan (Tainan)	P. sp. (276046)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	Jamaica	P. sp. (186673)
Gelasian - Calabrian	2.58 - 0.774	Greece (Rhodes)	P. polli (207571)
Early/Lower Pleistocene - Middle Pleistocene	2.58 - 0.129	Italy	P. polli (159455) Polypnus polli (159378)
Ionian	0.774 - 0.129	Greece (Rhodes)	P. polli (207568)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	Japan (Kanagawa)	P. sp. (276069)