# Bungartius

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***Bungartius*** is an [extinct](/source/Extinct) [genus](/source/Genus) of [arthrodire](/source/Arthrodire) ("joint-necked") fish from the [Late Devonian](/source/Late_Devonian) period of [Ohio](/source/Ohio). It is the sole member of the family Bungartiidae, related to the giant *[Titanichthys](/source/Titanichthys)*. The first specimen of *Bungartius* was recovered by Peter A. Bungart in Cuyahuga County, Ohio, and came from strata belonging to the [Cleveland Shale Member](/source/Cleveland_Shale) of the [Ohio Shale](/source/Ohio_Shale). A second, more complete specimen was discovered in 1943 by [David H. Dunkle](/source/David_Dunkle), who, four years later, named a new genus and species to accommodate them. *Bungartius* may have been [durophagous](/source/Durophagy), meaning that it would have eaten hard-shelled [invertebrates](/source/Invertebrate).

## Discovery

In 1936, Peter Anthony Bungart, a staff member of the [Cleveland Museum of Natural History](/source/Cleveland_Museum_of_Natural_History), recovered a [concretion](/source/Concretion) containing the dorsal and ventral armour plates of an unknown fish from Cuyahoga County, Ohio, by Peter A. Bungart. The concretion originated from the [Cleveland Shale](/source/Cleveland_Shale), sometimes considered a [stratigraphic unit](/source/Stratigraphic_unit) of the [Ohio Shales](/source/Ohio_Shale). The specimen was transported to the museum and catalogued as CMNH 6666. In 1943, palaeontologist [David H. Dunkle](/source/David_Dunkle) recovered an almost complete specimen (CMNH 7573), which was around twice as large as that recovered by Bungart. He concluded that it was an [arthrodire](/source/Arthrodire), a member of an [order](/source/Order_(biology)) of extinct fishes which also includes *[Dunkleosteus](/source/Dunkleosteus)*, *[Heterosteus](/source/Heterosteus)* and *[Titanichthys](/source/Titanichthys)*. In 1947, Dunkle described the two specimens and erected a new taxon, *Bungartius perissus*.[1]

## Taxonomy

In his 1947 paper describing *Bungartius*, David H. Dunkle expressed his uncertainty at its [phylogenetic](/source/Phylogenetics) relationships. He did, however, note similarities between it, [titanichthyids](/source/Titanichthyidae) (a family that now exclusively includes *Titanichthys*), and *[Diplognathus](/source/Diplognathus)*, and suggested that it may have been most closely related to the latter.[1] In 1975, Robert Howland Denison assigned *Bungartius* to a family of its own, Bungartiidae. He suggested that the family belonged to [Pachyosteina](/source/Pachyosteomorphi),[2] a [paraphyletic](/source/Paraphyly)[3] placoderm clade that represented the "dominant placoderms of the Upper Devonian".[2]

In a 2017 [phylogenetic](/source/Phylogenetic) analysis, *Bungartius* was placed as an intermediate between *[Tafilalichthys](/source/Tafilalichthys)* and *[Titanichthys](/source/Titanichthys)*.[3]

## Description

*Bungartius* was a mid-sized arthrodire, with a total [cranial shield](/source/Placoderm) length, measured from the rostral tip to the hind margin of the paranuchal bones (analogous to the [tabular bones](/source/Tabular_bone) of modern [bony fishes](/source/Osteichthyes)),[4] of 40.5 cm (15.9 in). It is preserved approximately as wide as it is long, though was likely fairly long, low, and narrow. The [orbits](/source/Skull) (eye sockets) were oriented [laterally](/source/Anatomical_terms_of_location) (on the side of the skull), at around the middle third of the skull's length. The inferognathal plates, those of the lower jaw, are non-cuspidate (lacking cusps), and were quite large, terminating in a short, downward-inclined extremity. The inferognathal plates' symphyseal regions bore thickened occlusal surfaces that were ideally suited as shearing surfaces,[1][5] and it has been suggested as a result that *Bungartius* was [durophagous](/source/Durophagy).[5] It is not clear whether *Bungartius* had a [Meckelian groove](/source/Meckelian_groove), though it may have been absent.[6]

### Postcranial skeleton

The [dorsal](/source/Anatomical_terms_of_location) (upper) [body armour](/source/Placoderm) is fairly short, though is low and narrow, like the skull. The mediodorsal bone, that comprising the very top portion of the body armour, is wider than it is long. The [anterior](/source/Anatomical_terms_of_location) (front) and [posterior](/source/Anatomical_terms_of_location) (rear) dorsolateral bones are large, about half as high as long, expanding the most [longitudinally](/source/Anatomical_terms_of_location) (length-wise) in the dorsal half. The anterolateral bones are triangular, with brief expansion of the posterodorsal lamina and slight concavity in the anterodorsal border. The spinal plates, which sit in front of the [pectoral fenestra](/source/Fenestra) (where the [pectoral fin](/source/Fish_fin) attaches) are completely atrophied, and, as of yet, the postero-laterals have not been identified. The interolateral bones (those at the lower anterior portion of the body armour) are long and slender, with ventral thickening. The [ventral](/source/Anatomical_terms_of_location) (lower) body armour is less reduced than the dorsal armour.[1] The neck slit, the region where the cranial shield articulates with the body armour, is sloping, which is the [basal](/source/Basal_(phylogenetics)) condition among antiarchs.[2]

## See also

- [List of placoderms](/source/List_of_placoderms)

## References

1. Dunkle, D.H. (1947-05-01). ["A new genus and species of arthrodiran fish from the Upper Devonian Cleveland Shale"](https://archive.org/details/scientificpublic69clev/page/n443/mode/2up). *Scientific Publications of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History*. **8**: 103–117. – via Internet Archive.

1. Denison, Robert Howland (1975-03-28). ["Evolution and classification of placodermi fishes"](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6590294#page/457/mode/1up). *Breviora*. **432**: 1–24.

1. Boyle, James & Ryan, Michael J. (March 2017). "New information on Titanichthys (Placodermi, Arthrodira) from the Cleveland Shale (Upper Devonian) of Ohio, USA". *[Journal of Paleontology](/source/Journal_of_Paleontology)*. **91** (2): 318–336. [Bibcode:2017JPal...91..318B](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017JPal...91..318B). [doi:10.1017/jpa.2016.136](https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2016.136). [ISSN 0022-3360](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0022-3360)

1. King, Benedict & Rücklin, Martin (2020-12-04). "A Bayesian approach to dynamic homology of morphological characters and the ancestral phenotype of jawed vertebrates". *eLife*. **9**. [doi:10.7554/eLife.62374](https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.62374). [ISSN 2050-084X](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2050-084X). [PMC 7793628](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7793628). [PMID 33274719](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33274719)

1. Coatham, Samuel J.; Vinther, Jakob; Rayfield, Emily J.; Klug, Christian (2020). "Was the Devonian placoderm Titanichthys a suspension feeder?". *Royal Society Open Science*. **7** (5). [Bibcode:2020RSOS....700272C](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020RSOS....700272C). [doi:10.1098/rsos.200272](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200272). [PMC 7277245](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7277245). [PMID 32537223](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32537223)

1. Engelman, Russell K. (2023). "A Devonian Fish Tale: A New Method of Body Length Estimation Suggests Much Smaller Sizes for Dunkleosteus terrelli (Placodermi: Arthrodira)". *Diversity*. **15** (3): 318. [Bibcode:2023Diver..15..318E](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023Diver..15..318E). [doi:10.3390/d15030318](https://doi.org/10.3390/d15030318). [ISSN 1424-2818](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1424-2818)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bungartius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungartius) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungartius?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.