Holonematidae
family of fishes (fossil)
Holonematidae is an extinct family of relatively large arthrodire placoderms from the Early to Late Devonian. Almost all fossil specimens are of armor fragments, though, all have distinctive ornamentation, often of unique arrangements and patterns of tubercles, that are diagnostic of the family. The trunkshield is very elongated, giving the armor an overall "barrel" like appearance.
Due to pebbles found inside articulated specimens of the Frasnian species, Holonema westolli, holonematids are thought to have been specialized herbivores that grazed on a form of horn-shaped, stony algae called "onycholite," snipping off the tips with their odd snouts.
Genera
Artesonema
A poorly known genus from the Givetian-aged Blacourt Formation of Boulonnais, France. The holotype of Artesonema is an anterodorsolateral plate from an adult that has an ornamentation of tubercles normally characteristic of juvenile holonematids.
Belemnacanthus
Belemnacanthus is from the Givetian of Eifel, Germany. It has been previously described as being an elasmobranch, an agnathan, and an antiarch. The genus is known only from the holotype: a 37 cm long portion of a median dorsal plate, suggesting a very large animal. The median dorsal plate has a long crest running down the median of the dorsal surface.
The public source identifies “Holonematidae” as family of fishes (fossil). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Holonematidae, family and fishes.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16880282. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Holonematidae” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.