Protopterus

Protopterus is the genus of four species of lungfish found in Africa. Protopterus is considered the sole genus in the family Protopteridae, which is grouped with Lepidosiren in the order Lepidosireniformes.'

== Taxonomy == The earliest fossils of the Protopteridae come from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of Sudan, but phylogenetic evidence indicates that it and Lepidosirenidae split at the very beginning of the Early Cretaceous, around 145 Ma.' Together, their common ancestor diverged from the only other extant lungfishes in Neoceratodontidae during the Late Jurassic.