Coccosteus

Coccosteus is an extinct genus of arthrodire placoderm from the Devonian period. Its fossils have been found throughout Europe and North America. The majority of these have been found in freshwater sediments, though such a large range suggests that they may have been able to enter saltwater. It was a small placoderm, with Coccosteus cuspidatus measuring 29.6–39.4 cm (11.7–15.5 in) long.

Coccosteus

Morosaurus millenii · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CoccosteidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Arthrodira
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Arthrodira
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthrodira

Time the record covers

At least 34 million years on record.

The record covers at least 393.47 Mya to 358.86 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 410.62 Mya to 323.4 Mya.

Devonian — about 21 of 22 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 1 of 22 occurrencesCarboniferous412–409 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences409–406 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences406–403 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences403–400 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences400–397 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences397–394 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences394–391 Mya — about 5 occurrences391–388 Mya — about 6 occurrences388–385 Mya — about 2 occurrences385–382 Mya — about 1 occurrence382–379 Mya — about 2 occurrences379–376 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences376–373 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences373–370 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences370–367 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences367–364 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences364–361 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences361–358 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences358–355 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences355–352 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences352–349 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences349–346 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences346–343 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences343–340 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences340–337 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences337–334 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences334–331 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences331–328 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences328–325 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences325–322 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences393.47 Mya358.86 Mya412 Mya322 Mya

22 occurrences of Coccosteus on record, most of them in the Devonian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

22 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

15 formations

Lybster Flagstone — 58.47°N, 3.46°WLybster Flagstone — 57.83°N, 4.18°WLybster Flagstone — 57.68°N, 2.34°WLybster Flagstone — 57.64°N, 3.03°WLybster Flagstone — 57.68°N, 4.03°WNarva — 57.55°N, 25.29°EMelby — 60.29°N, 1.70°WGydo — 33.30°S, 21.83°EChemung — 41.68°N, 76.71°WKiltorcan — 52.45°N, 7.18°WNarva — 59.38°N, 28.19°EBurtnieki — 58.10°N, 25.55°EPolotsk — 51.88°N, 26.85°EOberer Plattenkalk — 50.99°N, 7.15°EOld Red Sandstone — 51.50°N, 2.78°WGogo — 18.16°S, 124.30°EUpper Stromness Flagstones — 59.08°N, 3.32°WBrindister Flagstones — 59.89°N, 1.30°WCorradigbee — 35.10°S, 148.65°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Coccosteus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Coccosteus and its relatives

Devonian

Where Coccosteus and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

292 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Coccosteus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

13 references

Each of the 22 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 1 further reference is not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Coccosteus

Credit
Morosaurus millenii
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCoccosteidae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Agassiz 1843