Homostiidae

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.

Homostiidae
Temporal range: Lochkovian-?Givetian
Homosteus milleri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Placodermi
Order:
Arthrodira
Suborder:
Brachythoraci
Infraorder:
Coccosteina
Superfamily:
Homosteiodea
Family:
Homostiidae

Jaekel, 1903
Type species
Homosteus formosissimus
Asmuss 1856
Genera
Synonyms
  • Chelonichthyidae Dean, 1901
  • Euleptaspididae Obruchev, 1964[1]: 70 
  • (order) Temnothoraci Dean, 1901
  • (suborder) Homostei Jaekel, 1911

Many homostiids have "toothless" jaws, and large sizes. suggesting that many homostiids were probably filter feeders, like the also noticeably flattened Rhincodon typus.[2][3][4][5]

All homostiids have flattened and elongated skulls. According to Denison 1978, primitive homostiids have moderately long median dorsal plates, whereas in "advanced" homostiids, the median dorsal tends to be short and broad.[1]: 69 

Obruchev (1964) placed the following primitive genera Euleptaspis, Lophostracon and Luetkeichthys in a separate family, "Euleptaspididae," and Ørvig (1969), claimed that the Euleptaspidids were totally unrelated to Homostiidae proper (i.e., being neither related to, nor ancestral), but, according to Denison, did not clearly explain his reasons why this was so.[1]: 70 

Genera

Angarichthys

A comparatively large animal from the Middle Devonian of Siberia, with a head shield estimated around 40 centimeters long. Known only from an infragnathal bone, and an intero-lateral and a marginal plate.

Antineosteus

A primitive homostiid from Emsian-aged strata of Morocco. Antineosteus' primitive anatomical features suggest it may be a precursor to Angarichthys, Atlantidosteus and Homosteus. Antineosteus lived sympatrically with the Moroccan species of Atlantidosteus.

Atlantidosteus

This genus is known from species found in Emsian-aged Morocco and Middle Devonian Australia. Overall form is very similar to Antineosteus and Homosteus.

Cavanosteus

A primitive genus from Emsian-aged strata of Australia

Cathlesichthys

A genus of homostiid from Wee Jasper, living during the Early Devonian.

Euleptaspis

This genus is known from isolated plates and fragments from Lower Devonian-aged strata in Spitzbergen and Germany. The holotype of the type species, E. depressa, is a paranuchal plate very similar to those seen in coccosteids.

Dhanguura?

A very large, primitive form from the Early Devonian Taemas-Wee Jasper Reef fauna. Its discoverer, Gavin Young, hypothesizes that it may have been a filter-feeder.

Homosteus

The type genus, known from both complete and fragmentary fossils in Europe, Russia, and North America.

Tityosteus

Tityosteus is thought to be the largest vertebrate known from the Lower Devonian, with an estimated length of 2.5 meters. The holotype is an incomplete individual from the Hunsrück.[1]: 73 

References
  1. Denison R (1978). Handbook of Paleoichthyology. Vol. 2: Placodermi. Stuttgart New York: Gustav Fischer Verlag. ISBN 978-0-89574-027-4.
  2. "Před 400 milióny lety u nás žili gigantičtí obratlovci" [400 million years ago, gigantic vertebrates lived here]. National Museum News (in Czech). 4 December 2014.
  3. Vaškaninová V, Kraft P (2014). "The largest Lower Devonian placoderm-Antineosteus rufus sp. nov. from the Barrandian area (Czech Republic)" (PDF). Bulletin of Geosciences. 89 (3): 635–644.
  4. "Fish from the Emsian of Aragón". 2006. S2CID 218464633.
  5. Coatham SJ, Vinther J, Rayfield EJ, Klug C (May 2020). "Was the Devonian placoderm Titanichthys a suspension feeder?". Royal Society Open Science. 7 (5): 200272. Bibcode:2020RSOS....700272C. doi:10.1098/rsos.200272. PMC 7277245. PMID 32537223.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.