Kingdom Animalia Family Coccosteidae Rank Genus | Class Placodermi Phylum Chordata Order Arthrodira | |
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Similar Rhenonema, Belemnacanthus, Jiuchengia, Burrinjucosteus, Arenipiscis | ||
Protitanichthys is a genus of comparatively large coccosteid arthrodire placoderm from the Middle Devonian of the eastern United States. Fossils are found primarily in the Eifelian-epoch aged Delaware Limestone of Ohio, and the Lower Givetian-aged Rockport Quarry of Michigan
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Anatomy
Protitanichthys is very similar to other coccosteids, though the skull is proportionally narrower, and the orbits are comparatively smaller. As mentioned earlier, species are quite large for coccosteids, surpassed only in size by the Old World genus, Livosteus.
P. fossatus
The type species of the genus. The description of P. fossatus is based on a cranial roof, possibly 20 cm (7.9 in) long, found in the Eifelian-aged Delaware Limestone of Ohio.
P. rockportensis
As the specific name suggests, numerous scrappy remains of this species are found in the Lower-Givetian Rockport Quarry in Michigan. Denison (1978) questions the status of P. rockportensis being distinct from P. fossatus, as there are very few differences between the two, aside from chronological and geographical differences.