Luckeus

Luckeus Temporal range:
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Sarcopterygii
Order:	†Onychodontiformes
Family:	†Onychodontidae
Genus:	†Luckeus Young & Schultze, 2005
Type species
†Luckeus abudda Young & Schultze, 2005

Luckeus is an extinct genus of prehistoric lobe-finned fish. Luckeus belonged to the order Onychodontida. It lived during the Early Devonian to Middle Devonian period (Emsian to Eifelian ages) in what is now central Australia.

Description

Luckeus is only known by a left lower jaw, which is the holotype (ANU V2969) of the genus, and also by some isolated teeth (ANU V3108-3112). Before palaeontologists establish a genus name for these remains, they referred to them as "onychodontid" and "crossopterygian" remains, or more specific as "onychodontid teeth remains". In 2005, palaeontologists Gavin Young and Hans-Peter Schultze described these findings and assigned them to a new genus under the name Luckeus. Young and Schultze named Luckeus after the nickname "Lucke" of the late palaeontologist Dr. Hans Ludolph Jessen due to his major study of Paleozoic bony fish. The type species, Luckeus abudda, named after the Abudda Lakes located in the Simpson Desert, about 15 kilometers of the fossil Mereenie Sandstone.

References

• Young, Gavin C.; Schultze, Hans-Peter (2005). "New Osteichthyans (bony fishes) from the Devonian of Central Australia". Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe. 8: 13–35. doi:10.1002/mmng.200410002.