Parent taxon: Acanthodii according to R. van der Laan 2019
See also Burrow et al. 2012, Carroll 1988, Dineley and Metcalf 1999, Long 2011 and Nelson et al. 2016
Sister taxa: Acanthodi, Acanthodida, Antarctonchus, Archaeacanthus, Byssacanthoides, Campylodus, Climatiida, Climatiiformes, Diplacanthi, Diplacanthiformes, Eupleurogmus, Gemuendolepis, Haplacanthus, Homacanthus, Ischnacanthida, Ischnacanthiformes, Latviacanthus, Lupopsyroides, Lupopsyrus, Machaeracanthidae, Monopleurodus, Neoasiacanthus, Nodacosta, Nodonchus, Onchidae, Paucicanthus, Pinnacanthus, Promesacanthus, Ptychodictyon, Seretolepis, Striacanthus, Tchunacanthidae, Yealepis
Subtaxa: Acanthodidae Cheiracanthidae Mesacanthidae
Ecology: nektonic carnivore
Distribution:
• Permian of Czechia (7 collections), France (3), Germany (4), United States (4: Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma)
• Carboniferous of Australia (1), Belarus (1), China (1), the Russian Federation (1), the United Kingdom (14), United States (12: Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, Utah)
• Givetian of the United Kingdom (1)
• Devonian of Australia (3), Belarus (11), Canada (2: Northern Territories, Quebec), Estonia (4), Greenland (1), Latvia (2), the Russian Federation (9), South Africa (1), the United Kingdom (19), United States (1: Iowa)
Total: 102 collections including 161 occurrences