Axelrodichthys

Axelrodichthys is an extinct genus of mawsoniid coelacanth from the Cretaceous of Africa, North and South America, and Europe. Several species are known, the remains of which were discovered in the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) of Brazil, North Africa, and possibly Mexico, as well as in the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco (Cenomanian), Madagascar (Coniacian –Santonian) and France (Lower Campanian to Lower Maastrichtian). The Axelrodichthys of the Lower Cretaceous frequented both brackish and coastal marine waters (lagoon-coastal environment) while the most recent species lived exclusively in fresh waters (lakes and rivers). The French specimens are the last known fresh water coelacanths. Most of the species of this genus reached to in length. Axelrodichthys was named in 1986 by John G. Maisey in honor of the American ichthyologist Herbert R. Axelrod.

== Description == thumb|left|Axelrodichthys araripensis Like its close relative Mawsonia, Axelrodichthys is a coelacanth with an elongated, low, and wide skull, whose skull roof and cheek bones are characterized by strong ornamentation. It differs from Mawsonia mainly in its more elongated parietonasal shield, the development of the descending process of the supratemporal, and by the shape and arrangement of the cheek and lower jaw bones. On the latter, the two posterior branches of the dentary are similar in length in Axelrodichthys while the lower branch of the bifurcation is much longer than the upper in Mawsonia. The contact area with the angular is also more extensive in Axelrodichthys.