title: Hyneria
text: Hyneria is a genus of large prehistoric predatory lobe-finned fish which lived in freshwater during the Devonian period (Famennian).
  
  Etymology
  The genus name Hyneria is a reference to the village of Hyner, Pennsylvania, near where the first specimen was found. The species epiphet H. lindae is derived from the name of the wife of Keith Stewart Thomson, who described this fish.
  
  Description
  Hyneria was a large fish. H. lindae is estimated around  in total length. The largest complete jaw reaches , but there is much larger fragment possibly from a jaw about twice that length, although that specimen may belong to a rhizodont instead. Assuming this jaw fragment does pertain to Hyneria, and assuming proportions similar to more complete tristichopterids, it suggests H. lindae could possibly reach lengths up to 3.5 metres (11 ft). A second species, H. uldezinye, was once estimated at range between  before being described. However, the species description estimates that the largest specimen belongs to an animal about . Its skull had heavy, ornamented dermal bones and its lower jaw was relatively long and shallow. The teeth were stout, with those of the premaxilla forming fangs upwards of . Its body was covered by cycloid scales. It had large sensory canals to aid in detection of possible prey, as the freshwater environment it inhabited likely was murky and had low visibility. Adult individuals retained juvenile features (i.e. partially unossified skeletons), suggesting that they were likely neotenic.
  
  Discovery
  
  The original fossils came from two localities in Pennsylvania, United States, one found between the villages of North Bend and Hyner and another near Emporium. They consisted of a disarticulated partial skull and fragments of the shoulder girdle. The fossils were found in the Catskill Formation of the Red Hill Shale, dating to the upper Devonian. These were the only remains known until 1993 when a renewed collecting effort discovered abundant new material. Hyneria is considered the largest and most common lobe-finned fish found in the Red Hill Shale. In February 2023 a second species of Hyneria, H. udlezinye, was named from remains discovered in the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte. These remains include the skull and shoulder girdle.
  
  References
  
  External links
  Hyneria at Devonian Times
  
  Tristichopterids
  Prehistoric lobe-finned fish genera
  Devonian fish of North America
  Late Devonian animals
  Fossil taxa described in 1968
  Famennian genera
  Devonian fish of Africa