Chinese paleontologists have described a new species of the coelacanth genus White based on two fossilized specimens. This discovery extends the spatial reach of White at the beginning of the Triassic, and documents the oldest species of the genus in Asia, predating by 9 million years the oldest record of whiteiid coelacanths on this continent.
Whiteia of the year in right lateral view, holotype. Image credit: Dai and others., doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-20229-w.
“Coelacanths are a curious group of sarcopterygian fishes, represented by two extant marine species of the genus Latimerie” said lead author Dr. Guang-Hui Xu, a paleontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues.
“This group was first known in the Lower Devonian, reached its peak of taxonomic diversity in the Early Triassic, but declined after the mid-Cretaceous.”
“Coelacanths are very important in evolutionary biology for their unique combination of physiological and anatomical characteristics and their ability to survive four major extinction events over hundreds of millions of years.”
“The discovery of Latimerie has sparked a debate about how this strange lobe-finned fish fits into the evolution of land animals.
“Due to evolutionary conservatism, coelacanths have long been considered one of the most morphologically conservative groups of vertebrates.”
“However, several studies, particularly those based on Triassic fossils, have shown that coelacanth body shapes are more diverse than previously thought.”
“In recent years, new species recovered from fossil sites around the world continually provide valuable evidence for studying coelacanth evolution.”
The new species of coelacanth, named Whiteia of the yearlived about 249 million years ago during the Smithian period of the Lower Triassic.
The fish belongs to Whitea genus of extinct coelacanths previously known from Madagascar, South Africa, Canada and Greenland, but not from Asia.
“Like the first recording of White originating from the Lower Triassic of Asia, the new discovery significantly extends the spatial reach of the genus and is an important addition to our understanding of the evolution of this major clade of Triassic coelacanths,” the paleontologists said.
Two specimens of Whiteia of the year were found in the Lower Triassic marine deposits exposed at Maoshankou, Anhui Province of China.
Fossils show that this coelacanth measured between 41 and 46 cm in total length – significantly larger than other named species in its genus.
“The report previously White The species were generally small, with a total length of 11.5 cm to 27 cm in the Early Triassic, and a small, slender body shape was once considered characteristic of the genus,” the researchers said.
“Recently, the resumption of Whiteia giganteus (total length estimated at more than 100 cm) from Texas reveals an episode of large acquisition of the genus in the Late Triassic of North America.
“Our recovery from Whiteia of the year from China provides an interesting example that links small species of White from Europe and Africa and these much larger relatives from North America in terms of body size.
The team’s paper was published October 17 in the journal Scientific reports.
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QH. Difficult and others. 2025. A new coelacanth (Actinistia, Sarcopterygii) from the Lower Triassic of Anhui, China. Scientific representative 15, 36320; doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-20229-w
