Damocles (genus)

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Damocles
Temporal range: Mississippian
Damocles ROM.jpg
Specimen of D. serratus housed at the ROM.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order:† Symmoriiformes
Genus:† Damocles
Lund, 1986
Type species
* †Damocles serratus
Lund, 1986
Other species
  • †D. attenuatusDavis, 1883

Damocles is a genus of cartilaginous fish from the Mississippian age Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana, United States and from the Mountain Limestone of Armagh, Northern Ireland. Two species, D. serratus and D. attenuatus, have been assigned, with D. attenuatus originally being classified as a species of the form-genus Physonemus . Members of the genus were carnivorous, and males possessed a distinctive serrated, sword-like spine which was positioned over their head.

Contents

Discovery and naming

The first fossils now assigned to Damocles were described in 1883 by naturalist James William Davis, and were assigned to the genus Physonemus . This species, named "Physonemus" attenuatus, was based on isolated spines from the Mountain Limestone of Armagh, Northern Ireland. [1] [2] Well preserved body fossils of a second species were described in 1986 from the Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana by paleontologist Richard Lund. [1]

The genus name is in reference to the character Damocles of Greek mythology, because of a sword-like dorsal spine that was angled over the fish's head like the Sword of Damocles in the story. The type species, D. serratus, is named for the serrations along its dorsal spine, [1]

Description

Male Damocles possessed a forward-angled spine in place of a dorsal fin and a pad of large denticles on top of the head. [1]

Paleoecology

Damocles was a carnivore. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Lund, Richard (1986-03-07). "On Damocles serratus , nov. gen. et sp. (Elasmobranchii: Cladodontida) from the Upper Mississippian Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 6 (1): 12–19. doi:10.1080/02724634.1986.10011594. ISSN   0272-4634.
  2. ↑ Davis, James W. (1883). "On the fossil fishes of the Carboniferous limestone series of Great Britain". The Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society. 2. 1: 329–600 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. ↑ "PBDB Taxon". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 9 October 2024.


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