Millerosteus

Millerosteus Temporal range: Middle Devonian: Early Givetian, 387.7–382.7 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Fossil of Millerosteus minor in the Field Museum of Natural History.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	†Placodermi
Order:	†Arthrodira
Suborder:	†Brachythoraci
Family:	†Coccosteidae
Genus:	†Millerosteus Stensiö, 1959
Species
Millerosteus minor (Miller, 1858) (type)

Millerosteus is an extinct genus of coccosteid arthrodire placoderm from the Early Givetian stage of the Middle Devonian period. Fossils are found in Orkney and Caithness, Scotland. It was a small placoderm with a body length of 14 cm (5.5 in).^[1] Millerosteus is one of the few arthrodires known from specimens preserving the entire skeleton.

Phylogeny

Millerosteus 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 Millerosteus:^[2]

Eubrachythoraci

Coccosteomorphi Coccosteoidea Coccosteidae Millerosteus minor Coccosteus cuspidatus Dickosteus threiplandi Watsonosteus fletti Protitanichthys rockportensis Panxiosteidae Plourdosteus canadensis Panxiosteus ocullus Janiosteus timanicus Incisoscutoidea Harrytoombsia elegans Torosteus tuberculatus Torosteus pulchellus Mcnamaraspis kaprios Compagopiscis croucheri Trematosteus fontanellus Camuropiscidae Incisoscutum ritchiei Incisoscutum sarahae Rolfosteus canningensis Tubonasus lennardensis Fallacosteus turneri Camuropiscis laidlawi Latocamurus coulthardi Pachyosteomorphi

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. doi:10.3390/d15030318.
2. 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". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 176 (4): 806–834. doi:10.1111/zoj.12356. ISSN 0024-4082.