a. and sb. Zool. [f. mod.L. crossopterygii or -ia (f. Gr. κροσσό-ς tassel, pl. fringe, κροσσωτός fringed + πτέρυξ, πτερύγιον fin) + -AN.]
A. adj. Belonging to the sub-class Crossopterygia or sub-order Crossopterygidæ of Ganoid fishes, so called from the arrangement of the paired fins to form a fringe round a central lobe. B. sb. A fish of this class.
Most of these fishes are extinct, but the genus Polypterus is still found in the Nile and other African rivers.
1861. Huxley, Ess. Devonian Fishes, 25 (Mem. Geol. Surv. Gt. Brit.). Thus both ends of the Crossopterygian series appear … to be cut off from the modern representatives of the suborder. Ibid. Polypterus, however, is clearly related to the rhombiferous Crossopterygians. Ibid. (1871), Anat. Vert. Anim., iii. 171. The most ancient Crossopterygian Ganoids.
