Acanthodiformes

Acanthodiformes is an order of "acanthodians" which lived from the Early Devonian to the Early Permian. Members of the order have been found worldwide in rocks preserving both freshwater and marine environments, and are distinguished from other acanthodians by the presence of only a single dorsal fin and dorsal fin spine, and in most members a lack of teeth and well-developed gill rakers. Some acanthodiforms are presumed to have fed by filter-feeding, and had large mouths and gill arches. While they have been suggested to be close relatives of modern bony fish due to similarities in their skulls, recent research indicates that, like other acanthodians, they are more likely to be stem-group cartilaginous fish.

Acanthodiformes

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AcanthodiiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Acanthodii
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Acanthodii
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Acanthodii

Time the record covers

At least 119 million years on record.

The record covers at least 413.02 Mya to 293.52 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 419.62 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Silurian — about 0 of 191 occurrencesDevonian — about 134 of 191 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 35 of 191 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 22 of 191 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 191 occurrences423–417 Mya — about 2 occurrences417–411 Mya — about 4 occurrences411–406 Mya — about 9 occurrences406–400 Mya — about 10 occurrences400–394 Mya — about 30 occurrences394–388 Mya — about 32 occurrences388–382 Mya — about 34 occurrences382–376 Mya — about 2 occurrences376–371 Mya — about 2 occurrences371–365 Mya — about 3 occurrences365–359 Mya — about 6 occurrences359–353 Mya — about 2 occurrences353–347 Mya — about 2 occurrences347–342 Mya — about 1 occurrence342–336 Mya — about 6 occurrences336–330 Mya — about 2 occurrences330–324 Mya — about 3 occurrences324–318 Mya — about 2 occurrences318–313 Mya — about 5 occurrences313–307 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences307–301 Mya — about 8 occurrences301–295 Mya — about 14 occurrences295–289 Mya — about 9 occurrences289–283 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences283–278 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences278–272 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences272–266 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences266–260 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences260–254 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences254–249 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences413.02 Mya293.52 Mya423 Mya249 Mya

191 occurrences of Acanthodiformes on record, most of them in the Devonian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

191 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

53 formations

Burtnieki — 58.10°N, 25.55°ELybster Flagstone — 57.54°N, 3.76°WLybster Flagstone — 58.47°N, 3.46°WLybster Flagstone — 57.83°N, 4.18°WLybster Flagstone — 57.68°N, 2.34°WLybster Flagstone — 57.64°N, 3.03°WLybster Flagstone — 57.68°N, 4.03°WWild Cow — 34.95°N, 106.30°WLepel — 53.07°N, 28.70°ELepel — 53.16°N, 30.80°ELepel — 53.32°N, 30.37°ELepel — 55.41°N, 27.19°EVrchlabi — 50.57°N, 15.39°EVrchlabi — 50.62°N, 15.60°ERēzekne — 56.51°N, 27.33°EDundee Flagstone — 57.00°N, 4.00°WDundee Flagstone — 56.67°N, 2.77°WDundee Flagstone — 56.57°N, 2.73°WDundee Flagstone — 56.51°N, 2.91°WDundee Flagstone — 56.48°N, 3.12°WGullane — 55.98°N, 3.21°WPennine Lower Coal Measures — 53.13°N, 3.09°WPennine Lower Coal Measures — 53.11°N, 3.03°WPennine Lower Coal Measures — 53.21°N, 3.04°WPennine Lower Coal Measures — 53.17°N, 3.09°WSalairka Horizon — 54.28°N, 85.93°EVrchlabí — 50.63°N, 15.61°EVrchlabí — 50.62°N, 15.37°ELower Os’kin — 55.45°N, 90.06°EUpper Stromness Flagstones — 59.08°N, 3.32°WMeisenheim — 49.41°N, 7.78°EMeisenheim — 49.41°N, 6.91°EHam-Scarfskerry Flagstone — 58.62°N, 3.59°WWreford Limestone — 39.05°N, 96.75°WWreford Limestone — 37.86°N, 96.58°WEscuminac — 48.11°N, 66.40°WKovanshchina — 54.13°N, 36.56°EGauja — 58.01°N, 25.38°EHeath — 46.97°N, 109.04°WHeath — 46.95°N, 108.96°WMelby — 60.29°N, 1.70°WMey Flagstone — 58.60°N, 3.53°WBelovo Horizon — 54.28°N, 85.93°EShanda Horizon — 54.28°N, 85.93°E

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The named rock units Acanthodiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 29 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 56 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Acanthodiformes and its relatives

Devonian

Where Acanthodiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

877 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 110 sites for Acanthodiformes, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

56 references

Each of the 191 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 44 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Acanthodiformes

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Acanthodiformes was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAcanthodii through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Berg 1940