Aleosteus
Genus of extinct fish
Aleosteus is an extinct monospecific genus of arthrodire placoderm fish of the Early Devonian period. The type species Aleosteus eganensis was described in 2000, and was found in the Late Emsian strate of the Sevy Dolomite Formation, in the Egan Range of east-central Nevada, USA. Almost complete fossils belong to juvenile and adult specimens and show a short and broad skull, posteriorly concave.
01Etymology
The generic name Aleosteus comes from the Ancient Greco-Roman game "alea", a game of chance involving dice, as an allusion to Nevada's reputation for gambling. The species name eganensis is based on the type locality in the Egan Mountain Range in Nevada.
02Classification
Aleosteus is one of the more basal members of the order Arthrodira, closely related to Simblaspis, as shown in the cladogram below:
| Actinolepidoidei Phlyctaeniina |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Aleosteus”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Aleosteus eganensis.jpg by Apokryltaros, CC BY-SA 3.0
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.