CROSSOPTERYGIAN

[cros.sop.ter.yg.ian] n [NL Crossopterygii, subclass name, fr. Gk krossoi fringe + pterygion, dim. of pteryg-, pteryx wing, fin; akin to Gk pteron wing--more at feather] (1861): any of a subclass (Crossopterygii) of fishes (as a coelacanth) that have paired fins suggesting limbs, that may be ancestral to the terrestrial vertebrates, and that are mostly extinct--called also lobe-fin -- crossopterygian adj