Dunkleosteidae
| Dunkleosteidae Temporal range: Late Emsian to Late Famennian |
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| Dunkleosteus terrelli skull, Queensland Museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | †Placodermi |
| Order: | †Arthrodira |
| Superfamily: | †Dunkleosteoidea |
| Family: |
†Dunkleosteidae Stensiö, 1963 |
| Type species | |
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Dinichthys terrelli Newberry, 1873 |
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| Genera | |
Dunkleosteidae is an extinct family of arthrodire placoderms. The gigantic apex predator Dunkleosteus terrelli is the best known member of this group. While they were previously thought to be close relatives of the genus Dinichthys (when they were not synonymized as each other) and grouped together in the family Dinichthyidae, more recent studies have shown that the two taxa represent two very distinct clades within Arthrodira. The reappraisal of Kiangyousteus lead to a restructuring of the family, with the inclusions of the benthic, aberrant Heterosteus (and the other members of Heterosteidae) as the sister taxon of Dunkleosteus, and the Late Emsian Xiangshuiosteus as the sister taxon of Eastmanosteus calliaspis (with the direct implication that E. calliaspis does not belong in Eastmaneosteus), and the removal of Westralichthys from the family (now thought to be the most basal member of the superfamily Dunkleosteoidea, and sister taxon of Panxiosteidae and Dunkleosteidae)
The type genus, Dunkleosteus, is known from Late Frasnian and Famennian-aged marine strata from Europe, Morocco, and North America. The best known species, D. terrelli, is famous as the "world's first vertebrate apex predator," and is estimated to be up to 6 m (20 ft) in length: other species, however, such as D. raveri, are estimated to be 1 m (3.3 ft) in length.
Eastmanosteous is a diverse genus of medium to somewhat large predatory arthrodires very similar in anatomy to the species of Dunkleosteus. Eastmanosteus differs from Dunkleosteus in having a unique tubercle-ornamentation on the dermal surfaces of the plates, a distinctively shaped nuchal plate, and sutures that are more zigzagging. The best studied species, E. calliaspis may not be of this genus due to its recently appreciated relationship to the Emsian-aged genus Xiangshuiosteus.
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