Talk:Bianchengichthys

Maxillate?
What does maxillate mean? Why is it in citation marks (here, and also in Qilinyu)? Should it have an article, like Maxillate or Maxillate fish?--Nø (talk) 08:32, 18 March 2022 (UTC)
 * It generally means that the animal's skull includes a maxilla or a structure that is evolutionarily homologous to a maxilla in other jawed vertebrates. One of the pressing issues in placoderm paleontology is that a lot of bones in the skull and thorax may not be homologous to other skull characteristics. I would guess that the quotation marks were related to the use of the term by the team who published the species description. Hope this helps Ryan shell (talk) 13:10, 18 March 2022 (UTC)
 * In addition to the points Ryan shell made, the term "maxillate" is being used as an informal term to group together various, Silurian-aged, arthrodire-like placoderms who share anatomical features with crown-group gnathostomes (i.e., from sharks to humans). Thus, the citation marks.--Mr Fink (talk) 14:04, 18 March 2022 (UTC)
 * user:Ryan shell and user:Apokryltaros, thanks for clarifications! I think they support my view: The articles need to either explain the term, or wikilink another article that does. It could be as in maxillate fish, or a Maxillate fish article should be created. Unless there is a strict sense of Maxillate fish, different from the informal sense used here, the quotes should be removed.--Nø (talk) 10:30, 20 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I dont usually write about paleo fish on wiki, but my reading of the term is that the term isn't quite notable on its own right now. One option might be to link to wtk for the word "maxillate," though I wouldn't be against an article on 'maxillate palcoderm" despite the term being more gradistic than cladistic. Curious what others would have to say, either in this discussion or if it were proposed to a wikiproject 15:40, 20 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I'm hesitant to start an article about "maxillate placoderm" if only because it's not an official term yet, and to make an article about it before these fishes' higher taxonomy are formalized may run afoul of WP:Synthesis. Perhaps we could eventually start a more in depth subsection in Placoderm, though?--Mr Fink (talk) 16:20, 20 March 2022 (UTC)