Famennian

The Famennian is the latter of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian epoch. It lasted from 372.2 million years ago to 358.9 million years ago. It was preceded by the Frasnian stage and followed by the Tournaisian stage.

System/ Period	Series/ Epoch	Stage/ Age	Age (Ma)
Carboniferous	Mississippian	Tournaisian	younger
Devonian	Upper/ Late	Famennian	358.9	372.2
		Frasnian	372.2	382.7
	Middle	Givetian	382.7	387.7
		Eifelian	387.7	393.3
	Lower/ Early	Emsian	393.3	407.6
		Pragian	407.6	410.8
		Lochkovian	410.8	419.2
Silurian	Pridoli	no faunal stages defined	older
Subdivision of the Devonian system according to the ICS, as of 2017.[1]

It was during this age that tetrapods first appeared. In the seas, a novel major group of ammonoid cephalopods called clymeniids appeared, underwent tremendous diversification and spread worldwide, then just as suddenly went extinct.

The beginning of the Famennian is marked by a major extinction event, the Kellwasser Event, and the end with a smaller but still quite severe extinction event, the Hangenberg Event.

North American subdivisions of the Famennian include the Chautauquan, Canadaway, Conneaut, Conneautan, Conewango and Conewangan.

Name and definition

The Famennian stage was proposed in 1855 by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont and was accepted for the upper stage of the Upper Devonian by the Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy in 1981.[2] It is named after Famenne, a natural region in southern Belgium.

Famennian life

Vertebrates

Placoderms

Placoderms of the Fammenian
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Dinichthys		Ohio Shale, Ohio & Louisiana Limestone, Missouri	A giant predatory arthrodire placoderm. It was previously used as a wastebasket taxon for many unrelated large arthrodires, including species now assigned to Eastmanosteus, Titanichthys and the similar but not closely related Dunkleosteus.	Dinichthys herzi Diplognathus Dunkleosteus terrelli Dunkleosteus marsaisi, this species might belong to Eastmanosteus instead. Gorgonichthys clarki Groenlandaspis pennsylvanica Gymnotrachelus hydei Selenosteus brevis Stenosteus angustopectis Titanichthys agassizi
Diplognathus	Upper Famennian	Cleveland Shale, Ohio	An arthrodire placoderm of the superfamily Dinichthyloidea.
Dunkleosteus		Lost Burro Formation & Ohio Shale, North America Belgium[3] Morocco[4]	A dunkleosteid arthrodire with many species, some of them being among the largest placoderms to have existed.
Eastmanosteus licharevi		Lipetsk, Russia	A poorly known species of dunkleosteid arthrodire in the genus Eastmanosteus.
Gorgonichthys	Upper Famennian	Cleveland Shale, Ohio	A giant yet relatively lightly build arthrodire placoderm of the superfamily Dinichthyloidea. Gorgonichthys clarki is estimated to have reached 6 meters in length.
Groenlandaspis		Cosmopolitan, except eastern Asia	An arthrodire placoderm
Gymnotrachelus		Cleveland Shale, Ohio	A superficially barracuda-like selenosteid arthrodire placoderm.
Heintzichthys		Europe North America	An arthrodire placoderm of the superfamily Dinichthyloidea.
Selenosteus		Cleveland Shale, Ohio	A selenosteid arthrodire placoderm.
Stenosteus		Cleveland Shale, Ohio	A selenosteid arthrodire placoderm.
Titanichthys	Late Devonian	Morocco; North America	A giant, possibly filter-feeding, arthrodire placoderm of the superfamily Dinichthyloidea.

Cartilaginous fish

Cartilaginous fish of the Fammenian
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Stethacanthus		Shar'yu River, Chernyshev Ridge, Russia Cleveland Shale, Ohio

Ray-finned fish

Actinopterygii of the Fammenian
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Tegeolepis	Late Devonian	Ohio, United States

Lobe-finned fish

Coelacanths

Actinistia of the Fammenian
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Cabonnichthys
Mandageria		Mandagery Sandstone, Canowindra, Australia
Serenichthys		Witpoort Formation, Eastern Cape, South Africa	A basal actinistian of the family Diplocercidae

Tetrapodomorphs

Tetrapodomorpha of the Fammenian
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Acanthostega		Britta Dal Formation, East Greenland
Cabonnichthys		Canowindra, Australia	A genus of tristichopterid fish
Densignathus	Upper Famennian	Catskill Formation & Red Hill Shale, Pennsylvania
Hyneria	Upper Famennian	Catskill Formation & Red Hill Shale, Pennsylvania	Hyneria was a large tristichopterid fish, estimated at 2.5–3.7 m in total length
Hynerpeton	Upper Famennian	Catskill Formation & Red Hill Shale, Pennsylvania
Ichthyostega		Evieux Formation, Belgium Britta Dal Formation, East Greenland
Jakubsonia	Lower Famennian	Russia
Metaxygnathus		Cloghnan Shale, New South Wales, Australia
Sinostega		Zhongning Formation, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China	The first Devonian tetrapod to be found in Asia
Tulerpeton		Andreyevka, Tula Oblast, Russia
Ventastega		Ketleri Formation, Courland Peninsula, Latvia
Ymeria		Celsius Bjerg Group, Greenland

References

1. http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale
2. Thorez, Jacques; Dreesen, Roland; Streel, Maurice (2006). "Frasnian". Geologica Belgica. 9 (1–2): 27–45. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
3. Denison, Robert (1978). "Placodermi". Handbook of Paleoichthyology. 2. Stuttgart New York: Gustav Fischer Verlag. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-89574-027-4.
4. Murray, A.M. (2000). "The Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic fishes of Africa". Fish and Fisheries. 1 (2): 111–145. doi:10.1046/j.1467-2979.2000.00015.x.

See also

• List of fossil sites (with link directory)