Pentlandia macroptera (Traquair)

Big Pentlandia from Orkney, in the NMS photographed under water (© NMS).

Same specimen as above but photographed dry!

Reconstruction of Pentlandia (Challands at al 2016) © Challands and the Linnean Society of London

The head of Pentlandia (Challands at al 2016 ©) from: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2016 p-1-47

Two heads showing the cranial shield (© NMS).

This dipnoan is a small to medium sized fish (although few examples are known of specimens over 30 cm, see picture at the top) and was the most common fish in the Eday Flags. It had tooth plates that looked similar to Dipterus. The fish is recently described by Tom Challands et al. (2016). It looks much like the Devonian lungfish Scaumenacia curta from Miguasha, Canada. Both species have no cosmine on their scales and head plates.

Three specimens on same slab.

Specimen showing the head well.

Drawing of a specimen (after Traquair, 1889).

Specimen in lateral view showing the fins well.

Reconstruction of fish in lateral view (Watson, 1916).

Reconstruction of fish in lateral view (Watson, 1935).

Nice specimen with very thin pointy tail.