I am searching for more or less schematic drawings based on actual specimens that depict the skeleton of the whole animal, optimally with some detail in the cranial part.
Thanks! It is a beautiful article, but it doesn't show the postcranial parts...
Best wishes,
Christian.
Hi Christian, For the postcranial skeleton the most referred arthrodire is still Coccosteus (see Miles 1968 for the comprehensive description to date, but do note that the morphology of the pelvic region has since been revised in Trinajstic et al 2014). Millerosteus and a few Gogo arthrodires also have postcranial skeleton, but they mostly resemble Coccosteus being the members of Coccosteomorpha. Phylloplepid Cowralepis has numerous complete skeleton preserved, also, but phyllolepids are quite an unique clade among arthrodires.
Cheers, You-an
Thanks! It is strange how little is known about the postcranium of arthrodires....
As noted by Dr. Zhu Coccosteus and its close relative are the standard for postcrania in arthrodires but it's unclear how generalizable they are to the other branches of the tree. It appears that most of the postcranium was only cartilaginous, or at most weakly ossified in comparison to the head shields. There is a trend towards less armor overall in both arthrodire and ptyctodont placoderms independently. Of course the best known placoderm, Dunkleosteus is the exception, and we still have almost no information on its postcrania.
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