Hsianwenia wui is an extinct species of cyprinid fish of the family Cyprinidae from the Pliocene lake deposits of the Qaidam inland basin on the northern Tibetan Plateau.
| Hsianwenia Temporal range:
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Cyprinidae |
| Subfamily: | Barbinae |
| Genus: | †Hsianwenia Chang et al, 2008 |
| Species: | †H. wui
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| Binomial name | |
| †Hsianwenia wui Chang et al, 2008
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Taxonomy
editThis species is characterised by hypercalcified ribs, which occupy almost the entire body of the fish. The fish seemed to live in a hyper saline environment and the thick costal skeleton may have been an adaptation to this habitat. The excess salts absorbed by the fish being deposited in its bones throughout its life and leading to the thickened skeleton.[1] It is named in honor of Professor W.U. Hsianwen (1900–1985), one of the founders of freshwater fish research in China.[2]
References
edit- ^ Meemann Chang; Xiaoming Wang; Huanzhang Liu; et al. (2008). "Extraordinarily thick-boned fish linked to the aridification of the Qaidam Basin (northern Tibetan Plateau)". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (36): 13246–13251. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10513246C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0805982105. PMC 2533176. PMID 18757732.
- ^ "Thick-boned fish reveals paleoclimate in Qaidam Basin". Chinese Academy of Sciences. 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
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