Melanosteus

Name: Melanosteus ‭(‬Black bone‭)‬.
Phonetic: Me-la-no-ste-uss.
Named By: H.‭ ‬Lelièvre,‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Feist,‭ ‬D.‭ ‬Goujet‭ & ‬A.‭ ‬Blieck‭ ‬-‭ ‬1987
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Placodermi,‭ ‬Arthrodira,‭ ‬Coccosteina,‭ ‬Dinichthyloidea,‭ ‬Selenosteidae.
Species: M.‭ ‬occitanus,‭ ‬M.‭ ‬indica.
Diet: Carnivore‭?
Size: Skull about‭ ‬5‭ ‬centimetres long.
Known locations: Canada‭?‬.‭ ‬France.‭ ‬India‭ ‬-‭ ‬Shiala Formation.
Time period: Silurian to Frasnian of the Devonian.
Fossil representation: Skulls.

       Melanosteus seems to have been a fairly small genus of arthrodire placoderm fish that had a near global distribution early from the Silurian to Devonian periods.‭ ‬As an arthrodire placoderm fish,‭ ‬Melanosteus was likely a predator of other aquatic organisms.‭ ‬Melanosteus was named after the Montagne Noire‭ (‬Black Mountains‭) ‬of France near where the first fossils were discovered.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Les vertébrés de la Montagne Noire‭ (‬Sud de la France‭) ‬et leur apport á la phylogénie des Pachyostéomorphes‭ (‬Placodermes,‭ ‬Arthrodires‭)‬.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Palaeovertebrata‭ ‬17:‭ ‬1‭–‬16.‭ ‬-‭ ‬H.‭ ‬Lelièvre,‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Feist,‭ ‬D.‭ ‬Goujet‭ & ‬A.‭ ‬Blieck‭ ‬-‭ ‬1987.
-‭ ‬A new melanosclerite,‭ ‬Melanosteus indica nov.‭ ‬sp.‭ (?‬Cnidaria‭) ‬from the Shiala Formation of the Garhwal Tethyan Himalaya,‭ ‬India.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Micropaleontology vol‭ ‬57‭ ‬no‭ ‬6‭ ‬pp531-535.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Claudia Trampisch‭ & ‬Hareshwar N.‭ ‬Sinha‭ ‬-‭ ‬2011.

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