Titanichthys
| Titanichthys Temporal range: Famennian | |
|---|---|
 | |
| T. agassizi | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Infraphylum: | Gnathostomata |
| Class: | †Placodermi |
| Order: | †Arthrodira |
| Suborder: | †Brachythoraci |
| Infraorder: | †Coccosteina |
| Superfamily: | †Dinichthyloidea |
| Family: | †Titanichthyidae |
| Genus: | †Titanichthys |
| Species: | †T. agassizi |
| Type species | |
| Titanichthys agassizi Newberry, 1885 | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Brontichthys | |
Titanichthys is a genus of giant, aberrant marine placoderm from shallow seas the Late Devonian of Morocco and Eastern North America. Many of the species approached Dunkleosteus in size and build. Unlike its relative, however, the various species of Titanichys had small, ineffective-looking mouth-plates that lacked a sharp cutting edge. It is assumed that Titanichthys was a filter feeder that used its capacious mouth to swallow or inhale schools of small, anchovy-like fish, or possibly krill-like zooplankton, and that the mouth-plates retained the prey while allowing the water to escape as it closed its mouth.
When the first Moroccan specimens were found by geologist Henri Termier, Titanichthys was originally placed within the genus Gorgonichthys - that is, after Termier was able to convince his colleagues that the bone scraps were of a placoderm, and not a dinosaur.[1] A junior synonym is Brontichthys, which should not be confused with another arthrodire, Bruntonichthys of Dunkleosteidae.
Species
T. kozlowskii
T. termieri
Footnotes
- ↑ See Janvier (1998) p.323 for details.
References
- Haaramo, Mikko (2005): Mikko's Phylogeny Archive: †Dinichthyloidea. Version of 2005-NOV-15. Retrieved 2007-SEP-13.
- Janvier, Philippe (1998): Early Vertebrates. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. ISBN 0-19-854047-7
- Long, John A. (1996): The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. ISBN 0-8018-5438-5