Coccosteus cuspidatus

Coccosteus is an extinct genus of arthrodire placoderm; placoderms were a class of armoured prehistoric fish. Their fossils have been discovered throughout Europe and across North America. Fossils of Coccosteus are very common in the Sandwick Fish Bed’s of Scotland. Only two known species are attributed to Coccosteus including; cuspidatus and decipiens. The head was covered with a regular number of bony plates and the body of these fish were long and slender ending in a narrow tail. This genus could grow to lengths of around 40 cm (almost 16 inches).

What Coccosteus lacked in size it made up for with its mouth. It had an internal joint between its neck vertebrae and the back of the skull, allowing the mouth to be opened even wider, this allowed Coccosteus to feed on fairly large prey. All arthrodires had bony dental plates in their jaws; these plates formed a sharp ‘beak’. The beak in arthrodires has often been falsely identified as ‘true teeth’, where in actual fact the beak is a result of the dental plates grinding against one another, thus keeping the beak sharp.

Name

Coccosteus cuspidatus

Authority

Miller ex Agassiz, 1841

Meaning of generic name

Seed Bone-y

[Seed-Bone as a noun would have been kokkosteon in Greek.]

Meaning of specific name

Pointed

Size

Length: 25-40 cm

Remains

Complete specimens

[Complete with soft tissue or just complete with skeleta and outer bone parts ?]

Age and Distribution

Achanarras Horizon, Middle Old Red Sandstone, Sandwick Fish Bed's, Scotland, Middle Devonian, (Eifelian-Givetian).

Classification

Placodermi Arthrodira Coccosteoidea Coccosteidae

Further Reading

I.-Homosteus, Asmuss, compared with Coccosteus, Agassiz. Dr R. H. Traquair. Geological Magazine (Decade III), Volume 6, Issue 01, January 1889, pp 1-8 Published Online by Cambridge University Press 01 May 2009

Image by Nobu Tamura (click to enlarge)

Coccosteus cuspidatus, August 11, 2007:

Camelotia borealis

Camelotia was a large sauropodomorph (estimated length: 10 m) from the Upper Triassic of England. It is known from fragmentary postcranial elements. It is generally considered related to the South African Melanorosaurus.

Name

Camelotia borealis

Authority

Galton, 1985

Meaning of generic name

From Camelot

Meaning of specific name

From the North

Size

Length: ? 10 m , Skull length: ?

Remains

Holotype (BMNH R.2870-2874, R.2876-2878): Vertebrae, pubis, ischium, femur, tibia, phalanges

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Westbury Formation, Up. Triassic (Rhaetian).

Locality: Wedmore Hill, Somerset, England, UK.

Classification

Dinosauria Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Sauropoda Anchisauria Melanosauridae

Further Reading

P. M. Galton. 1985. "Notes on the Melanorosauridae, a family of large prosauropod dinosaurs (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha)." Géobios 18(5):671-676.

P. M. Galton. 1998. "Saurischian dinosaurs from the Upper Triassic of England: Camelotia (Prosauropoda, Melanorosauridae) and Avalonianus (Theropoda, ?Carnosauria)." Palaeontographica Abteilung A 250(4-6):155-172

Synonyms

Gresslyosaurus ingens Huene, 1907-08, 1932 referred, Plateosaurus borealis (Galton, 1985) Galton, 2001; Avalonia sanfordi Seeley, 1898 (partim); Avalonianus sanfordi (Seeley, 1898) Kuhn, 1961; Picrodon herveyi Seeley, 1898 (partim)

Baryonyx walkeri

Baryonyx is known from a partial skull and postcranial skeleton and is to date the most complete theropod found in England, it was discovered in a pit in Surrey, England, 1983. It was found by amateur palaeontologist William Walker. At least 70% of the specimen was recovered and is on display in the Natural History Museum, London. Its hands were equipped with a huge claw and its crocodile-like snout indicate it was probably a piscivorous animal. It is possible that the genera Suchomimus and Cristatusaurus are junior synonyms of Baryonyx. Suchosaurus cultridens from the Early Cretaceous of England, known from teeth is most probably the same animal than Baryonyx walkeri.

Name

Baryonyx walkeri

Authority

Charig & Milner, 1986

Meaning of generic name

Heavy Claw

Meaning of specific name

of Walker

Size

Length: 9 m

Remains

Partial skull and associated postcranial skeleton.

Age and Distribution

Wealden Beds, Smokejacks Pit, Ockley, Surrey, England.

Classification

Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Spinosauroidea Spinosauridae

Further Reading

A. J. Charig and A. C. Milner. 1986. "Baryonyx, a remarkable new theropod dinosaur." Nature 324(6095):359-361.

Charig, A. J., and Milner A. C., 1990, The systematic position of Baryonyx walkeri, in the light of Gauthier’s reclassification of the Theropoda: In: Dinosaur Systematics, Approaches and Perspectives. Edited by Kenneth Carpenter and Philip J. Currie. Cambridge University Press, p. 127-140.

Synonyms

possible such see text above

Images by Nobu Tamura (click to enlarge)

Baryonyx walkeri, April 5, 2007

same, February 2, 2013:

Asylosaurus yalensis

Name

Asylosaurus yalensis

Authority

Galton, 2007

Meaning of generic name

"Unharmed or Sanctuary Lizard"

Meaning of specific name

Refers to Yale University where O. C. Marsh took the specimen so it was unharmed in air raids on BCM in November, 1940.

Size

Body Length: ?

Remains

Holotype YPM 2195: A partial skeleton including ribs, gastralia, shoulder girdle, dorsal vertebrae and limb material

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Triassic Period (Rhaetian)

Locality: Durdham Down, Clifton, Bristol, U.K.

Classification

Dinosauria Saurischia Sauropodomorpha

Further Reading

Galton, Peter (2007). "Notes on the remains of archosaurian reptiles, mostly basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs, from the 1834 fissure fill (Rhaetian, Upper Triassic) at Clifton in Bristol, southwest England". Revue de Paléobiologie 26 (2): 505–591.

Synonyms

[If the specimen was already there in 1940, what was it known as back then? Was it subsumed under some other already named species back then, the fossil from Durdham Down in Yale?]

Anthracosaurus russelli

Anthracosaurus russelli was a large (estimated length of 3 meters) predatorial eel-like creature that lived in the swamps of Scotland during the Upper Carboniferous. The eel-like shape of the body is assumed on the basis of related genera but the details of the postcranial skeleton is a mystery as only skull fragments of this animal have been found mainly in the Coal Measures of Scotland. A. russelli is currently the only recognized species as A. lancifer from Linton, Ohio, also known from a skull, has been synonymized with Leptophractus obsoletus.

Name

Anthracosaurus russelli

Authority

Huxley, 1863

Meaning of generic name

Coal Lizard

Meaning of specific name

of Russell

Size

Skull length: 40 cm, Length: 3 m

Remains

Skulls and skull fragments.

Age and Distribution

Blackband Ironstone of Airdie, near Glasgow, Scotland (Westphalain B); Usworth Colliery, Washington, Tyne and Wear, England (Westphalian A), UK

Classification

Tetrapoda Emblomeri Anthracosauridae

Further Reading

Huxley, T. H., 1863, "Description of Anthracosaurus russelli, a new labyrinthodont form the Lanarkshire coal field": Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, v. 19, p. 56-68.

Clack J.A. (1987) "Two new specimens of Anthracosaurus (Amphibia: Anthracosauria) from the Northumberland Coal Measures." Palaeontology, 30, 15-26.

Adelospondylus watsoni

Adelospondylus watsoni is only known from a small skull from the Lower carboniferous of Scotland (It was erroneously reported being from the Upper Carboniferous). It belongs to a very poorly known group of Lepospondyli amphibians called Adelospondyli consisting of four genera of very elongated aquatic animals with tiny limbs.

Name

Adelospondylus watsoni

Authority

Carroll, 1967

Size

Skull length: 5 cm, Length: 50 cm

Remains

Skull

Age and Distribution

Lower Carboniferous beds (?Serpukhovian) of Scotland.

Classification

Lepospondyli Adelospondyli Adelogyrinidae

Further Reading

Carroll, R. L., 1967, "An Adelogyrinid Lepospondyl Amphibian from the Upper Carboniferous": Canadian Journal of Zoology, v. 45, n. 1, p. 1-16.

Acanthodes bronii

Acanthodes is a genus of plankton feeding spiny sharks which was ubiquitous from the Early Carboniferous to the Early Permian. Fossils have been found throughough Europe and North Amrica. It had fewer spines than its other relatives such as Climatius. Many species of Acanthodes have been described: Acanthodes bourbonensis Heidtke, 1996 (Lower Permian of France); Acanthodes boyi Heidtke, 1993 (Lower Permian of Germany); Acanthodes bridgei Zidek, 1976 (Upper Carboniferous of Kansas); Acanthodes bronii Agassiz, 1833 (Lower Permian of Germany); Acanthodes fritschi Zajic, 1998 (Upper Carboniferous of Czech Republic); Acanthodes gracilis (Beyrich, 1848) (Lower Permian of Czech Republic, Poland and Germany); Acanthodes kinneyi Zidek, 1992 (Upper Carboniferous of New Mexico); Acanthodes lopatini Rohon, 1889 (Lower Carboniferous of southern Central Siberia, Russia); Acanthodes luedersensis (Dalquest et al., 1988) (Lower Permian of Texas); Acanthodes lundi Zidek, 1980 (Upper Carboniferous of Montana); Acanthodes nitidus Woodward, 1891 (Lower Carboniferous of Scotland); Acanthodes ovensi White, 1927 (Lower Carboniferous of Scotland); Acanthodes sippeli Heidtke, 1996 (Upper Carboniferous of Germany); Acanthodes stambergi Zajic, 2005 (Lower Permian of Czech Republic); Acantodes sulcatus Agassiz, 1835 (Lower Carboniferous of Scotland); Acanthodes tholeyi Heidtke, 1990 (Lower Permian of Germany); Acanthodes wardi Egerton, 1866 (Upper Carboniferous of England and Scotland).

Name

Acanthodes bronii

Authority

Agassiz, 1833

[Note: he was opposed to Darwin, while a botanist supported the latter.]

Size

Length: 30 cm

Remains

Complete fossils.

Age and Distribution

Early Permian, Rotliegend, Germany

Classification

Acanthodii Acanthodiformes Acanthodidae