Devonian Placoderms Of Morocco

[jnoun11]

Hi
the Devonian of Morocco is very well known for its invertebrate fauna, but much less for his placoderms.
It was in 1937 that scientists Termier H. and L. cariond and J.Marcais have found the first remains of vertebrates in the Devonian of the locality of Erfoud.
Dr. Lehman is making the first release in 1954 in the number 129 of the Notes et memoires of service geologique du maroc.
with the Techniques of past days it was not possible preparation of three dimensions.
the preparation technique with formic acid or acetic acid allows the preparation of the specimens in three dimensions.

placoderms are not rare , they are often destroyed by erosion in sahara desert and very difficult to prepared.

I would start with a classic star :

Dunkleosteus marcaisi.

systematic paleontology



Class: PLACODERMI MC COY , 1848

Order: ARTHRODIRA Woodward,1891

Sub-order: PACHYOSTEOMORPHA

Family: DINICHTYIDAE NEWBERRY 1885 D

species : DUNKLEOSTEUS marsaisi LEHMAN 1954

AGE : upper Devonian (Lower Famennian); Tafilalet, south Morocco.

locality : DJEBEL MERAKIB MAROC

Size of the specimen:

1,10 m x 0,57m x 0,65m

3,28 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft

Edited May 15, 2014 by jnoun11

[jnoun11]

close up of different parts of the skull

rostral plates with nasal caps

sclerotic ring

inter-dentary plates

is not a cast...

[PRK]

Not really into Paleozoic fish----BUT -----those are great and the prep is beautiful, and I'm assuming those are models of the originals.

Edited April 13, 2013 by PRK

[Auspex]

You are bringing us a wealth of information about paleontology in Morocco, far beyond the common public conception here.

Thank you very much!

[Regg Cato]

That's a magnificent specimen; I've had the opportunity to examine a couple specimens of Dunkleosteus in real life, they're pretty awesome.

[jnoun11]

titanichtys termieri

systematic paleontology

familly :Titanichtydae

species: Titanichtys termieri LEHMAN 1954

locality: Upper Devonian, Lower Famennian stage of Maider MOROCCO

publications

Denison, R.H., 1978. Placodermi. In: Schultze, H.-P. (Ed.), Handbook of Paleoichthyology, vol. 2. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 128 pp.

Family TITANICHTYIDAE DEAN 1901C

Very large Pachyosteina with the cranial and trunk shields very wide and dorso-ventraly depressed. The skull roof tends to be thin and
fenestrated, except that the nuchal thickening is well developed. The eyes are small, far anterior, and bounded A posteriorly by the
postorbitalls and suborbitals. The rostral bone is unknow ,sugesting that the snout was soft. The cheeks are loosely articuled to the cranial
roof. The infra-gnathals are long and slender, without teeth, cusps or shearing edges. The trunk shield projects far under the head. The nuchal gap is large due to the émargination of the nuchal and median dorsal. The anterior laterals have a flat dorsal lamina and a long shaft
extending under the head. Spinal and interolateral plates are unknown and probably absent. 0f the ventral shield, only the anterior
ventro-laterals are known, and the rest may be reduced. The bones are smooth.These highly specialized and presumbably sluggish, bottom-feeding arthrodires ave been considered as derivatives of dinichtyidae. However,their anterior latéral are not angulated, indicating that their
gill covers were not postériorly élongated,and that the neck slit retained the primitive antero-ventral slope,so any close relationship is
unlikely.

Upper Devonian (Famennian); North America, North Africa and ? Europe.

Titanichthys NEWBERRY 1885B [including Brontichthys CLAYPOLE 1894B]

The only Kown génus in the family. The nuchal is short and wide, with its posterior margin emarginate and thickened for the attachment of
levator muscles of the head. The cranio-thoracic joint is well developed. On the suborbital plates, the infraorbital and supraoral
canals are entirely distinct. The median dorsal is characterized by a deeply concave anterlor margin, two processes on each side, and a median projection on the posterior border.

Type species: T. agassizi NEWBERRY 1885B . Upper Devonian (Famennian), Cleveland shale; Ohio, U.S.A. The infragnathals
arc strongly curved medially. The length of the head shield is about 60 cm.

The following species have also been described from the Cleveland shale:

T.attenuatus WRIGHT in CLAYPOLE 1893G. Based on an infragnathal that is more than . 36 cm. long; it may be synonymous with T. agassizi.

T.clarkii NEWBERRY 1887C. The infragnathals are not strongly curved in a horizontal plane. The cranial roof is relatively narrower and rounder than in the type species. One of the largest vertebrates of the Devonian,with a head over 90 cm. long.

T.hussakofi HAY 1930A [brontichthys clarki CLAYPOLE 1894B]. Based on an incomplete and poorly preserved infragnathal.

Non-American species of Titanichthys are:

T? kozlowskii KULCZYCKI 1957. Upper Devonian (Upper Famennian), Holy Cross Mountains, Poland. Based on incomplete nuchal and central plates.

T.termieri LEHMAN 1954A. Upper Devonian (Lower Famennian), Tafilalet, South Morocco. As large as T. clarkii, with the head and trunk shields having an estimated length of 2 meters.

Titanichtys termieri is probably the biggest placoderm ever found in a world. size of this specimen : 5 feet x 5 feet

The first of these extraordinary Titanichthys was discovered and described in the Cleveland Shale of Ohio in the 1800's;

the first partial specimen of T.termieri was unearthed by French geologist Henri Termier in Morocco in the 1937 and described by
paleontologist Jean-Pierre Lehman in the 1956 in notes et memoires du service geologique du Maroc tome 129 ,. Aside from isolated pieces of armor, only three complete skulls have ever been found,

localisation of the maider

Edited April 14, 2013 by jnoun11

[Regg Cato]

Why have I never heard of this before...good posts jnoun11

[jnoun11]

antinosteus lehmani

etymology : nammed from Antinea , queen of Atlantis and in memory of the great professor Lehman.

systematic paleontology

class: Placodermi Mc Coy, 1848

order: arthrodira Woodward, 1891

sub-order: Brachythoraci Gross, 1932

Family: ANTINOSTEUS

Specie: LEHMAN ANTINOSTEUS Lelievre, 1984

AGE: DEVONIAN. Emsian

locality: Djebel Issoumour

publications:

LELIÈVRE H. 1984b. —Antineosteus lehmani n. g., n. sp., nouveau Brachythoraci du Dévonien inférieur du Maroc présaharien. Remarques sur la

paléobiogéographie des homostéides de l’Emsien.

Annales de Paléontologie 70: 115-158.

1988. Nouveau materiel d'Antinosteus lehmani Lelievre, 1984 (Placoderme, Brachythoraci)- et d'Acanthodiens du Devonien inferieur (Emsian) d'Algerie. Bulletin du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 10: 287-302, 5 figs. 

MOROCCO

specimen No. 1 found in Moroccan Sahara in 2004, on the Jebel Issoumour in Phacops level.

The remains of arthrodires Brachythoraci Morocco was in 1963 by Lehman, ANTINOSTEUS Lehmani case was reported by Lelievre, 1984, this very rare species has never recovered fully, some new parts anatomical Antinosteus from Algeria were described in 1988, but do not give an idea of the entire animal.
Copy No 1 of our collections has submarginal a beautiful skull, a sub-orbital on the left, the two upper left antérognathals, inférognathal, full inférognathal the right part, the left and right plates, the ventral median plate, and ventrolateral plate.

Placoderms fisches are very difficult to interpret.
The quality of these specimen is incredible.

dentary

Edited July 13, 2014 by jnoun11

[Down under fossil hunter]

Yep, very cool!

Good to get some info on a family that otherwise goes unmentioned, except for Dunkleosteus.

[jnoun11]

petalichtys

systematic paleontology

size 20 cm

[jnoun11]

Enseosteus jaekeli

systematic paleontology

Class PLACODERMI McCoy, 1848

Order ARTHRODIRA Woodward, 1891

Family SELENOSTEIDAE Dean, 1901

Genus ENSEOSTEUS Jaekel, 1919

Type species. Enseosteus jaekeli Gross, 1932,

age: upper devonian- frasnian

locality : achgig-tafilalt basin Morocco

publications about :

1. ^ ^{a b c} Denison, Robert (1978). Handbook of Paleoichthyology, Volume 2, Placodermi. New York: Gustav Fischer Verlage. p. 97. ISBN 9780895740274.
2. ^ ^{a b} RÜCKLIN, MARTIN (January 14, 2011). "First selenosteid placoderms from the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco; osteology, phylogeny and palaeogeographical implications". Paleontology 56 (1): 25–62. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.01026.x.

Edited April 14, 2013 by jnoun11

[AgrilusHunter]

Hi jnoun,

Fantastic placoderms and wonderful information. Thanks for posting it all and welcome to The Forum from Indiana!

[AgrilusHunter]

... also ... bravo on your signature line.

[jnoun11]

Eastmanosteus.sp

systematic paleontology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastmanosteus

age ; Devonian Givetian
locality : Morocco

eastmanosteus cited by lehman in 1976 in the annales of paleontologie t.62 , fasc, 1 pp. 1-34 , is so rare, it was never possible to find a complete one. last year my team finded in trilobite layer in djebel merakib on specimen we was thinking it was one other type of placoderm ,named Antinosteus lehmani but after prepared it ,we founded it s was Eastmanosteus. it was difficult to find informations about different plates but it was looked like eastmanosteus yunnanensis published in 1982 by wang.

http://www.ivpp.cas.cn/cbw/gjzdwxb/xbwz ... 329343.pdf

preparing vertebrate need to learn a lot and see lot of specimens before pretending realize a good mounting..each specimens give on update of the older specimens...i m still learning after 20 years of practicing vertebrate preparation...

size : 0 80 x 0,40 m

before preparation...

Edited April 14, 2013 by jnoun11

[jnoun11]

more plate of this eastmanosteus

ventral plates

Edited April 14, 2013 by jnoun11

[xonenine]

thanks again jnoun

[Arckermann]

thank you all those unique piece !!

[jnoun11]

Rhenanid

systematic paleontology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhenanida

this placoderm ray like is very rare and most off the time is destroyed by erosion in Sahara desert. the size of this head is 15 cm.

[jnoun11]

DUNKLEOSTEUS marsaisi LEHMAN 1954

AGE : upper Devonian (Lower Famennian); Tafilalet, south Morocco.

locality : DJEBEL MERAKIB MAROC

close up of the antero-ventro-lateral plate with organised radialia in place, very rare.

internet link : http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/02/26/exposing-the-intimate-details/

Edited April 19, 2014 by jnoun11

[jnoun11]

the same dunkleosteus extracted from the devonian bed, in step of preparation. you can see how is well anatomically organized.

[caterpillar]

What a puzzle!

[Jeffrey P]

A very impressive and informative series. I find placoderms very intriguing. Thanks for posting it. Is it possible to see this collection in person. I always think about traveling back to Morocco. I was there 20 years ago. Seeing this collection would be one more positive reason.

[Triceratops]

Those are some great fossils!

[Tomasz]

Great posts. I have never heared about Rhenanida placoderms coming from Morocco... It is a very interesting group of primitive placoderms. I think that there is still big space for discovery of new species. However, these are not to be found in Poland.

Regards, Tomasz

[jnoun11]

this collection of placoderms is in united states of america, waiting some museum to taking care of them.