Latimeriidae

{{Short description|Family of fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Middle Triassic|present}}

| image = Coelacanth off Pumula on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, South Africa, on 22 November 2019.png

| image_caption = West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae)

| image2 = Undina penicillata 1m.jpg

| image2_caption = Undina pencillata, an extinct species

| taxon = Latimeriidae

| authority = Berg, 1940

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision = * †Macropomoides

• Ticinepomiinae
• †Ticinepomis
• †Foreyia
• †Rieppelia{{cite journal |last1=Ferrante |first1=C. |last2=Cavin |first2=L. |title=Early Mesozoic burst of morphological disparity in the slow-evolving coelacanth fish lineage |journal=Scientific Reports |date=2023 |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=11356 |doi=10.1038/s41598-023-37849-9|pmid=37443368 |pmc=10345187 |bibcode=2023NatSR..1311356F }}
• Latimeriinae
• †Holophagus
• Latimeria
• †Libys
• †Swenzia
• †Megalocoelacanthus
• †Macropoma
• †Undina

}}

File:Reconstruction of the living coelacanth Foreyia maxkuhni - Alain Bénéteau.jpg, an aberrant latimeriid from the Triassic of Europe]]

Latimeriidae is the only extant family of coelacanths, an ancient lineage of lobe-finned fish. It contains two extant species in the genus Latimeria, found in deep waters off the coasts of southern Africa and east-central Indonesia. In addition, several fossil genera are known from the Mesozoic of Europe, the Middle East, and the southeastern United States, dating back to the Triassic.{{Cite web |title=Fossilworks: Latimeriidae |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=266395 |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=Paleobiology Database}}{{Cite web |title=FAMILY Details for Latimeriidae - Gombessa |url=https://www.fishbase.se/summary/FamilySummary.php?ID=30 |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=www.fishbase.se}}{{Cite web |title=Mindat.org |url=https://www.mindat.org/taxon-5869.html |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=www.mindat.org}}

The latimeriids are thought to have always been an exclusively marine group. They may have originated in the western Tethys Sea, as many of the earliest species are known from areas that it formerly covered. The largest known member of the family, the Late Cretaceous Megalocoelacanthus, may have reached 4.5 metres in length.{{Cite journal |last1=Dutel |first1=Hugo |last2=Maisey |first2=John G. |last3=Schwimmer |first3=David R. |last4=Janvier |first4=Philippe |last5=Herbin |first5=Marc |last6=Clément |first6=Gaël |date=2012-11-27 |editor-last=Soares |editor-first=Daphne |title=The Giant Cretaceous Coelacanth (Actinistia, Sarcopterygii) Megalocoelacanthus dobiei Schwimmer, Stewart & Williams, 1994, and Its Bearing on Latimerioidei Interrelationships |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=7 |issue=11 |pages=e49911 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0049911 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=3507921 |pmid=23209614 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2012PLoSO...749911D }} The Latimeriidae are thought to be the sister group to the Mawsoniidae, an extinct family of coelacanths that survived until the Late Cretaceous, inhabited both freshwater and marine habitats, and contained some very large species. Together, both comprise the suborder Latimerioidei.{{Cite web |last1=Uyeno |first1=Teruya |last2=Yabumoto |first2=Yoshitaka |date=November 2007 |title=ORIGIN OF EXTANT COELACANTHS |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257922614 |website=ResearchGate}}{{Cite journal |last1=Toriño |first1=Pablo |last2=Soto |first2=Matías |last3=Perea |first3=Daniel |date=2021-12-02 |title=A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of coelacanth fishes (Sarcopterygii, Actinistia) with comments on the composition of the Mawsoniidae and Latimeriidae: evaluating old and new methodological challenges and constraints |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2020.1867982 |journal=Historical Biology |volume=33 |issue=12 |pages=3423–3443 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2020.1867982 |bibcode=2021HBio...33.3423T |s2cid=233942585 |issn=0891-2963}}

Cladogram after Toriño et al., 2021.

{{clade

|label1=Latimeriidae

|1={{clade

|1=†Garnbergia

|2={{clade

|1=†Diplurus

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=†Megalocoelacanthus

|2=†Libys

}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=†Ticinepomis

|2=†Foreyia

}}

|2={{clade

|1=†Holophagus

|2={{clade

|1=†Undina

|2={{clade

|1=†Macropoma

|2={{clade

|1=†Swenzia

|2=Latimeria

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}