''Taemasosteus'' is an extinct genus of
arthrodire placoderm. Its fossils have been found in
Emsian-
aged
Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In a ...
marine strata in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. It contains two species, ''T. novaustrocambricus'', and ''T. maclartiensis''.
The genus (and a monotypic family, "Taemasosteidae") was originally erected on the basis of "an imperfect" paranuchal, though, more specimens were found, eventually leading "Taemasosteidae" to be subsumed into
Buchanosteidae. Even so, the reconstructed anatomy leads some researchers to conclude that ''Taemasosteus'' is close to the ancestry of
Homostiidae
Homostiidae is a family of flattened arthrodire placoderms from the Early to Middle Devonian. Fossils appear in various strata in Europe, Russia, Morocco, Australia, Canada and Greenland.
Many homostiids have " toothless" jaws, and large sizes. ...
. These researchers place ''Taemasosteus'' as the
sister taxon
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and t ...
of Homostiidae (or a select group of the better known homostiid genera) within the
taxon
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...
Migmatocephala.
References
Buchanosteidae
Placoderms of Australia
{{Placoderm-stub