Protitanichthys

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[1]

Protitanichthys
Temporal range: Eifelian-Lower Givetian
Head shield, Ohio Geological Survey
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Placodermi
Order:
Arthrodira
Family:
Coccosteidae
Genus:
Protitanichthys
Type species
Protitanichthys fossatus
Eastman, 1907
Species
  • P. fossatus Eastman, 1907
  • P. rockportensis Case, 1931
Synonyms
  • Dinichthys ohioensis Skeels, 1962

Description
Restoration of P. fossatus

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.[1]

Species

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.[1]

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.[1]

References
  1. Denison, Robert (1978). Placodermi Volume 2 of Handbook of Paleoichthyology. Stuttgart New York: Gustav Fischer Verlag. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-89574-027-4.
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