| Aspidichthys Temporal range: Frasnian | |
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| Genus: | Aspidichthys Newberry, 1873 |
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| Aspidichthys clavatus Newberry, 1873 | |
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Aspidichthys ("shield fish") is a genus of large, distinctively tuberculated arthrodire placoderm of uncertain affinities from Upper Devonian marine strata in the Eastern United States and Europe. [1]
The dermal surfaces of the thick bones are decorated with an irregular arrangement of large, rounded tubercles. Some specimens may display patterns of "imperfectly concentric rows." [1] The long median dorsal plate is subrectangular in shape, and is gently bent along the midline, which tends to have a corresponding low ridge, and a posteriorly placed carinal process on the dorsal surface. [1] In 1938, Schmidt made a restoration of A. ingens as a large-bodied, small-headed arthrodire with tremendous orbits after the now-lost holotype of that species.
The taxonomic relationships of the genus remain uncertain. [1] Miles, 1973, suggested the genus was related to the Euleptaspidae, though, this is disproved through noting the drastically different proportions of the nuchal and median dorsal plates. [1] Schmidt's restoration of the animal as having a large body and a small head has led some paleontologists [2] to suspect a relationship with the holonematids. However, this relationship is also doubtful, as the holonematids' median dorsal plates differ from those of Aspidichthys by the former being more narrower, having a low keel, and having no carinal process.
A. clavatus is the type species, and is known from distinctive fragments found in the Frasnian-aged Huron and Olentangy Shales of Ohio. It has a "gently folded" median dorsal plate, and has a low crest placed on the posterior end of the median dorsal's midline. The length of the median dorsal ranges from 39 to 44 centimeters. [1]
A. ingens is a second, tremendously large species, known from Frasnian-aged strata of Rheinland, Germany, the Holy Cross Mountains of Poland, Moroccan strata, and possibly from Iran. [1] The 80 centimeter-long nuchal plate is much more steeply-folded than that of A. clavatus. According to Dennison 1978, the huge size of the nuchal plate makes A. ingens "the largest arthrodire in Europe." [1]
Dunkleosteus is an extinct genus of large arthrodire ("jointed-neck") fish that existed during the Late Devonian period, about 382–358 million years ago. It was a pelagic fish inhabiting open waters, and one of the first apex predators of any ecosystem.
Groenlandaspis is an extinct genus of arthrodire from the Late Devonian. Fossils of the different species are found in late Devonian strata in all continents except eastern Asia. The generic name commemorates the fact that the first specimens of the type species were found in Greenland.
Dunkleosteidae is an extinct family of arthrodire placoderms that lived during the Devonian period. The gigantic apex predator Dunkleosteus terrelli is the best known member of this group.
Phyllolepis is the type genus of Phyllolepida, an extinct taxon of arthrodire placoderm fish from the middle to late Devonian. The species of Phyllolepis, themselves, are restricted to the Famennian-aged freshwater strata of the Late Devonian, around 360 million years ago. Fossils of this genus have been found primarily in Europe and North America. The end of the Devonian saw them disappear in a mass extinction.
Homosteus is a genus of flattened arthrodire placoderm from the Middle Devonian. Fossils are found primarily in Eifelian-epoch aged strata of Europe, Canada, Greenland, and Estonia. All of the species had comparatively large, flattened heads with, as suggested by the upward opening orbits, upward-pointing eyes. These adaptations suggest that the various species were benthic predators. A study on Titanichthys, in contrast, suggests that species of Homosteus may have been filter-feeders instead.
Eusthenodon is an extinct genus of tristichopterid tetrapodomorphs from the Late Devonian period, ranging between 383 and 359 million years ago. They are well known for being a cosmopolitan genus with remains being recovered from East Greenland, Australia, Central Russia, South Africa, Pennsylvania, and Belgium. Compared to the other closely related genera of the Tristichopteridae clade, Eusthenodon was one of the largest lobe-finned fishes and among the most derived tristichopterids alongside its close relatives Cabonnichthys and Mandageria.
Holonema is an extinct genus of relatively large, barrel-shaped arthrodire placoderms that were found in oceans throughout the world from the Mid to Late Devonian, when the last species perished in the Frasnian-Fammian extinction event. Most species of the genus are known from fragments of their armor, but the Gogo Reef species, H. westolli, is known from whole, articulated specimens.
Eastmanosteus is a fossil genus of dunkleosteid placoderms. It was closely related to the giant Dunkleosteus, but differed from that genus in size, in possessing a distinctive tuberculated bone ornament, a differently shaped nuchal plate and a more zig-zagging course of the sutures of the skull roof.
Selenosteus brevis is an extinct large selenosteid arthrodire placoderm known from the Famennian Cleveland Shale of Ohio. Scrappy remains from the Frasnian Rhinestreet Shales of Erie County, New York, were attributed by Hussakof and Bryant to this genus in 1919, but, this identification is doubtful. A second species, S. kepleri, was described in 1901, but, not enough differences can be seen between its specimens, and those of the type species to warrant new species status.
Hadrosteus is an extinct monospecific genus of large arthrodire placoderm from the Late Frasnian Kellwasserkalk facies of Bad Wildungen, Germany. It had large, double-pronged inferognathals, and serrated edges along its mandible, strongly suggesting that it was a fish-eating predator. The head had a triangular snout, and the trunkshield was short, but high, with a median dorsal plate that was broader than wide. The average skull length is about 16 centimeters.
Holonematidae is an extinct family of relatively large arthrodire placoderms from the Early to Late Devonian. Almost all fossil specimens are of armor fragments, though, all have distinctive ornamentation, often of unique arrangements and patterns of tubercles, that are diagnostic of the family. The trunkshield is very elongated, giving the armor an overall "barrel" like appearance.
Belemnacanthus giganteus is a large, extinct, barrel-shaped holonematid arthrodire placoderm from Givetian-aged strata of Middle Devonian Eifel, Germany. B. giganteus is known only from the holotype, a 37 centimetres (15 in) portion of a median dorsal plate with a long, somewhat high, arching crest running down the median line of the exterior/dorsal side of the plate. The plate has an ornamentation of ridges that originate from a point posterior to the preserved portion of the median dorsal plate. Before the plate was identified as that of a holonematid, the plate of B. giganteus had been successively described as a tremendous spine of an elasmobranch, an agnathan, and lastly, the plate of an antiarch.
Rhenonema eifeliense is a large, extinct, high-crested holonematid arthrodire placoderm from Givetian-aged strata of Middle Devonian Gerolstein, Germany. It is known from some fragments of armor, including an anterior-lateral plate estimated to be around 24 centimetres (9.4 in) long, and a portion of a median dorsal plate with a very tall crest running along the median line of the dorsal surface. The ornamentation is very similar to that of Holonema, but the concentrically arranged ridges are much coarser in Rhenonema. The holotype was originally described by Kayser, in 1880, as a species of Dinichthys, but was then redescribed in 1964 by Obruchev as a holonematid.
Homostiidae is a family of flattened arthrodire placoderms from the Early to Middle Devonian. Fossils appear in various strata in Europe, Russia, Morocco, Australia, Canada and Greenland.
Brachydeirus is a genus of small to moderately large-sized arthrodire placoderms from the Late Devonian of Europe, restricted to the Kellwasserkalk Fauna of Bad Wildungen and Adorf.
Oxyosteus is a genus of trout-sized, highly compressed arthrodire placoderms from the Late Devonian of Europe: The two described species are restricted to the Late Frasnian-aged Kellwasserkalk Fauna of Bad Wildungen, while a median dorsal plate of an unnamed species is known from the Middle Frasnian Holy Cross Mountains of Poland.
Microbrachius is an extinct genus of tiny, advanced antiarch placoderms closely related to the bothriolepids. Specimens range in age from the Lower Devonian Late Emsian Stage to the Middle Devonian Upper Givetian Stage. They are characterized by having large heads with short thoracic armor of an average length of 2-4 cm. There are patterns of small, but noticeable tubercles on the armor, with the arrangement varying from species to species. Specimens of Microbrachius have been found in Scotland, Belarus, Estonia, and China.
Asterolepis is an extinct genus of antiarch placoderms from the Devonian of North and South America and Europe. They were heavily armored flat-headed benthic detritivores with distinctive jointed limb-like pectoral fins and hollow spine. The armor plate gives the Asterolepis a box-like shape. Its pectoral fins are also armored but the caudal and dorsal fin are not. The first fossils were named by M. Eichwald in 1840 after noticing star-like markings on the fossils.
Qilinyu is an extinct genus of "maxillate" placoderm from the late Silurian of China. It contains a single species, Qilinyu rostrata, from the Xiaoxiang fauna of the Kuanti Formation. Along with its contemporary Entelognathus, Qilinyu is an unusual placoderm showing some traits more similar to bony fish, such as dermal jaw bones and lobe-like fins. It can be characterized by adaptations for a benthic lifestyle, with the mouth and nostrils on the underside of the head, similar to the unrelated antiarch placoderms. The shape of the skull has been described as "dolphin-like", with a domed cranium and a short projecting rostrum.
Stigmatopora harastii, the red wide-bodied pipefish, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family of pipefish and seahorses (Syngnathidae).
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