Watsonosteus Explained

Watsonosteus is an extinct genus of coccosteid arthrodire placoderm from the Late Givetian stage of the Middle Devonian period. Fossils are found in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It was a small placoderm with a total body length of,[1] with the largest individuals reaching lengths of .[2] It is one of the few arthrodires for which complete body fossils are known.

Phylogeny

Watsonosteus is a member of the family Coccosteidae, which belongs to the clade Coccosteomorphi, one of the two major clades within Eubrachythoraci. The cladogram below shows the phylogeny of Watsonosteus:[3]

Notes and References

  1. Engelman. Russell K.. 2023. A Devonian Fish Tale: A New Method of Body Length Estimation Suggests Much Smaller Sizes for Dunkleosteus terrelli (Placodermi: Arthrodira). Diversity. 15. 3. 318. 10.3390/d15030318 . free .
  2. Newman . Michael J. . Blaauwen . Jan . Burrow . Carole . Jones . Roger . Earliest vertebrate embryos in the fossil record (Middle Devonian, Givetian) . Palaeontology . January 2021 . 64 . 1 . 21–30 . 10.1111/pala.12511. 2021Palgy..64...21N . 225001446 .
  3. Zhu . You-An . Zhu . Min . Wang . Jun-Qing . 1 April 2016 . Redescription of Yinostius major (Arthrodira: Heterostiidae) from the Lower Devonian of China, and the interrelationships of Brachythoraci . . 176 . 4 . 806–834 . 10.1111/zoj.12356. 0024-4082 . free .

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