jongarvey:
No. Even in 1968 nobody thought Teleosts camfe from the Choanichthyes. But I didn’t want to blind Eddie with formal names. Without bothering now to check on the latest phylogeny, my 1968 notes have the teleosts branching from near the root of the Holostei, which in turn stem from the Chondrostei.
The same notes, preserved for posterity in formaldehyde, tell me that the teleost swim bladder was believed to have evolved from their forbears’ lungs, by which my teacher probably meant the ancestors of Polypterus, according to Wikipedia “the only known vertebrate to have lungs, but no trachea.” Not a true lungfish, then, but a lung-fish nonetheless.
Checking more recent phylogeny I see things have been rearranged a bit, but there is still a common ancestor to Polypterus and the Teleosts. But even if there weren’t, I think I did pretty darned well to remember my A-level zoology accurately after 50 years. (But after all, it got me to Cambridge).
It is a common mistake to describe modern species as being ancestors of other modern species. This may be a bit pedantic, but careful descriptions now may prevent confusion later.
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