Prehistoric Models: Placoderms
Placoderms are a class of armored fish that first appeared in the fossil record at the end of the Silurian period about 430 million years ago. But a majority of Placiderms lived in the Devonian period and were extinct by the beggining of the Carboniferous Period.
Kingdom: Animalia – Phylum: Chordata – Subphylum: Vertebrata – Infraphylum: Gnathostomata – Class: Placodermi
(Placoderms “armored fish”)
Late Silurian to Late Devonian
Genus: Groenlandaspis “Greenland shield”
Pronounced: Green-land-as-piss
Named By: Heintz - 1932
Species: G. mirabilis (type). G. antarctica, G. disjectus, G. pennsylvanica, G. potyi, G. riniensis, G. seni, G. theroni, G. thorezi
Classification: Class: Placodermi, – Order: Arthrodira, – Family: Groenlandaspidae
Locations: Global
Time period: Late or Upper Devonian
Size: Up to 9 meters long
Diet: Carnivore
Genus: Dunkleosteus ”Dunkle’s bone”
Pronounced: Dun-kel-os-tee-us
Named By: Lehman - 1956
Species: D. terrelli (type), D. amblydoratus, D. marsaisi, D. raveri
Classification: Class: Placodermi, – Order: Arthrodira, – Family: Dunkleosteidae
Locations: Canada. USA. Europe. Morocco
Time period: Late Devonian (Frasnian to Famennian)
Size: Up to 9 meters long
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore
