He is best known for his studies of the embryology of lungfishes. Their closest living descendants are the members of the subclass Dipnoi (lungfishes). The fishes of Devonian New York included small arthrodires, chimaeroids, crossopterygians, lungfishes, and ostracoderms. Rhynchodipteridae is a family of prehistoric lungfishes which lived during the Devonian period. Recent phylogenetic reconstruction places porolepiformes close to lungfishes. Chirodipteridae is an extinct family of prehistoric lungfishes that lived during the Devonian period. Stomiahykidae is an extinct family of prehistoric lungfishes which lived during the Devonian period. The relationships among lungfishes are significantly more difficult to resolve. Apart from the coelacanths and the lungfishes, lobe-finned fishes are now extinct. Like the African lungfishes, this species has an elongated, almost eel-like body. In these inland rivers, "Acherontisuchus" most likely fed on lungfishes and eels. The modern lungfishes have a number of larval features, which suggest paedomorphosis. Extensive fossilization of lungfishes has contributed to many evolutionary studies of this group. African lungfishes breed at the beginning of the rainy season. The African lungfishes are obligate air breathers, with reduced gills in the adults.