Aspinothoracidi

Aspinothoracidians
Temporal range: Devonian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Placodermi
Order: Arthrodira
Clade: Pachyosteomorphi
Clade: Aspinothoracidi
Subgroups

See text

The Aspinothoracidi are an extinct clade of placoderms, armored fish most diverse during the Devonian. The gigantic apex predator Dinichthys, is the most well-known member of this group. Many other genera, such as the infamous Dunkleosteus, were previously thought to be close relatives of Dinichthys and were grouped together in the family Dinichthyidae, though more recent studies have restricted that family to only its type species.[1]

Genera

Presently accepted genera are:

References

  1. Carr R. K., Hlavin V. J. (2010). "Two new species of Dunkleosteus Lehman, 1956, from the Ohio Shale Formation (USA, Famennian) and the Kettle Point Formation (Canada, Upper Devonian), and a cladistic analysis of the Eubrachythoraci Placodermi, Arthrodira)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 159 (1): 195–222. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00578.x.