Kawichthys is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of symmoriiform cartilaginous fish from Upper Pennsylvanian

Pennsylvanian

The Pennsylvanian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the younger of two subperiods of the Carboniferous Period. It lasted from roughly . As with most other geochronologic units, the rock beds that define the Pennsylvanian are well identified, but the exact date of the start and end are uncertain...

 (Late Virgilian

Virgilian series

The Virgilian series is the most recent part of the Pennsylvanian epoch in the North American geologic classification series. In the older Appalachian classification system, this series was known as the Monongahela group...

 stage) deposits of Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, USA. Kawichthys is known from two well preserved three-dimensional neurocrania: the holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 KUVP

University of Kansas Natural History Museum

The University of Kansas Natural History Museum is part of the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, which is itself part of the KU Biodiversity Institute....

 152144 is associated with some disturbed and broken postcranial elements, but the braincase is partially crushed, and the paratype

Paratype

Paratype is a technical term used in the scientific naming of species and other taxa of organisms. The exact meaning of the term paratype when it is used in zoology is not the same as the meaning when it is used in botany...

 KUVP 56340. It was collected from the Douglas Group, between the Haskell Limestone Member and the overlying Robbins Shale of the Stranger Formation. It was first named by Alan Pradel, Paul Tafforeau, John G. Maisey and Philippe Janvier in 2011

2011 in paleontology

-Lobopods:-Arachnids:-Insects:-Newly named jawless vertebrates:-Newly named acanthodian:-Newly named cartilaginous fishes:-Newly named bony fishes:-Newly named lepospondyls:-Newly named temnospondyls:-Newly named lissamphibians:...

 and the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

is Kawichthys moodiei.