Arthrodira

Arthrodira is an order of extinct armored, jawed fishes of the class Placodermi that flourished in the Devonian period before their sudden extinction, surviving for about 50 million years and penetrating most marine ecological niches. Arthrodires were the largest and most diverse of all groups of placoderms.

Arthrodira

Russell K. Engelman · CC BY 4.0 · 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
PlacodermiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektonicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 63 million years on record.

The record covers at least 422.7 Mya to 358.86 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 425 Mya to 323.4 Mya.

Silurian — about 1 of 536 occurrencesDevonian — about 530 of 536 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 5 of 536 occurrencesCarboniferous427–424 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences424–420 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences420–416 Mya — about 17 occurrences416–413 Mya — about 19 occurrences413–409 Mya — about 27 occurrences409–406 Mya — about 16 occurrences406–402 Mya — about 16 occurrences402–399 Mya — about 17 occurrences399–395 Mya — about 25 occurrences395–392 Mya — about 40 occurrences392–388 Mya — about 54 occurrences388–385 Mya — about 63 occurrences385–381 Mya — about 61 occurrences381–378 Mya — about 58 occurrences378–374 Mya — about 39 occurrences374–371 Mya — about 21 occurrences371–367 Mya — about 9 occurrences367–364 Mya — about 16 occurrences364–360 Mya — about 23 occurrences360–357 Mya — about 8 occurrences357–353 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences353–350 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences350–346 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences346–343 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences343–339 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences339–335 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences335–332 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences332–328 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences328–325 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences325–321 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences422.7 Mya358.86 Mya427 Mya321 Mya

536 occurrences of Arthrodira 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

536 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

140 formations

Kellwasserkalk — 51.08°N, 9.13°EKellwasserkalk — 51.12°N, 9.15°EGogo — 18.62°S, 125.95°EGogo — 18.68°S, 125.71°EGogo — 18.30°S, 126.50°EGogo — 18.16°S, 124.30°ERousay — 59.10°N, 3.09°WRousay — 59.01°N, 3.01°WRousay — 59.01°N, 2.92°WRousay — 58.99°N, 2.80°WRousay — 58.74°N, 2.93°WRousay — 59.20°N, 3.08°WRousay — 59.13°N, 3.03°WRousay — 59.17°N, 3.00°WRousay — 59.28°N, 3.02°WRousay — 59.33°N, 3.05°WRousay — 59.30°N, 2.90°WRousay — 59.37°N, 2.89°WRousay — 59.36°N, 2.41°WRousay — 59.30°N, 2.44°WDniester — 49.01°N, 25.43°EDniester — 48.86°N, 25.48°EDniester — 48.91°N, 25.59°EDniester — 48.83°N, 25.57°EDniester — 48.75°N, 25.60°EDniester — 49.06°N, 25.39°EDniester — 49.19°N, 25.37°EDniester — 48.81°N, 25.35°EDniester — 49.02°N, 25.18°ETaemas — 34.96°S, 148.81°ETaemas — 35.04°S, 148.66°ETaemas — 35.11°S, 148.67°EOhio Shale — 40.14°N, 80.03°WOhio Shale — 41.41°N, 82.60°WOhio Shale — 41.45°N, 81.77°WAztec Siltstone — 77.88°S, 159.61°EAztec Siltstone — 78.16°S, 159.10°EAztec Siltstone — 78.43°S, 158.68°EAztec Siltstone — 78.54°S, 158.43°EAztec Siltstone — 77.53°S, 160.19°EAruküla — 59.37°N, 25.08°EAruküla — 57.55°N, 25.28°EBeartooth Butte — 44.95°N, 109.62°WBeartooth Butte — 44.87°N, 108.07°WBurtnieki — 58.10°N, 25.55°ENarva — 59.38°N, 28.19°ENarva — 57.55°N, 25.29°EMerrimerriwa — 30.87°S, 143.78°EMerrimerriwa — 31.39°S, 145.24°EMerrimerriwa — 31.30°S, 145.33°EHunsrück Slate — 49.89°N, 7.47°EHunsrück Slate — 49.83°N, 7.37°ECatskill — 41.81°N, 77.78°WCatskill — 41.43°N, 77.10°WCatskill — 41.34°N, 77.68°WPeel Sound — 73.79°N, 98.58°WPeel Sound — 73.76°N, 98.70°WPeel Sound — 73.76°N, 98.53°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°WRockport Quarry Limestone — 45.20°N, 83.39°WWitpoort — 33.32°S, 26.54°EWater Canyon — 41.62°N, 111.66°WWater Canyon — 41.77°N, 111.75°WDulcie Sandstone — 21.94°S, 134.59°EBindaree — 37.17°S, 146.65°EBindaree — 37.17°S, 146.55°EBindaree — 37.76°S, 147.11°EJiucheng — 25.54°N, 102.43°E

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The named rock units Arthrodira has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 116 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 74 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Arthrodira and its relatives

Devonian

Where Arthrodira and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

1,580 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 281 sites for Arthrodira, and this reads 240 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

180 references

Each of the 536 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. 168 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 content2

Picture of Arthrodira

Credit
Russell K. Engelman
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Arthrodira indet. · cmnh:vp:8557

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itPlacodermi through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Woodward 1891)