| Belemnacanthus Temporal range: Givetian | |
|---|---|
| |
| B. giganteus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Placodermi |
| Order: | Arthrodira |
| Family: | Holonematidae |
| Genus: | Belemnacanthus |
| Species: | B. giganteus |
| Binomial name | |
| Belemnacanthus giganteus Eastman, 1898 | |
Belemnacanthus giganteus ("Gigantic arrow-spine") is a large, extinct, barrel-shaped holonematid arthrodire placoderm from Givetian-aged strata of Middle Devonian Eifel, Germany. B. giganteus is known only from the holotype, a 37 centimetres (15 in) portion of a median dorsal plate with a long, somewhat high, arching crest running down the median line of the exterior/dorsal side of the plate. The plate has an ornamentation of ridges that originate from a point posterior to the preserved portion of the median dorsal plate. Before the plate was identified as that of a holonematid, the plate of B. giganteus had been successively described as a tremendous spine of an elasmobranch, an agnathan, and lastly, the plate of an antiarch.
References
- ' Denison, Robert (1978). Placodermi Volume 2 of Handbook of Paleoichthyology. Stuttgart New York: Gustav Fischer Verlag. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-89574-027-4.
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| Taxon identifiers | |
|---|---|
| Belemnacanthus giganteus | |
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