Jump to content

Ateleaspis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ateleaspis
Temporal range: Wenlock to Lower Devonian 440–371.9 Ma
Ateleaspis tessellata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Osteostraci
Order: Atelaspidiformes
Family: Ateleaspididae
Genus: Ateleaspis
Traquair, 1899
Species:
A. tessellata
Binomial name
Ateleaspis tessellata
Traquair, 1899

Ateleaspis is an extinct genus of primitive ostracoderm fish that lived in the Silurian period (Wenlock Epoch) to the Lower Devonian.[1][2] Like other ostracoderms, Ateleaspis had a head shield similar to that of Cephalaspis. Species from Silurian period were found in Norway and Scotland, but now has been found also in Siberia from Early Devonian period.

Description

[edit]

Ateleaspis possibly is the most basal vertebrate with paired fins. Ateleaspis was a small fish (about 15 – 20 cm) and had a flat headshield and a narrow trunk covered by brick-like scales.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Ferrón, Humberto G.; Greenwood, Jenny M.; Deline, Bradley; Martínez‐Pérez, Carlos; Botella, Héctor; Sansom, Robert S.; Ruta, Marcello; Donoghue, Philip C. J. (2020). Cavin, Lionel (ed.). "Categorical versus geometric morphometric approaches to characterizing the evolution of morphological disparity in Osteostraci (Vertebrata, stem Gnathostomata)". Palaeontology. 63 (5): 717–732. doi:10.1111/pala.12482. ISSN 0031-0239. S2CID 218926737.
  2. ^ Afanassieva, Olga Borisovna. The exoskeleton of Ungulaspis and Ateleaspis (Osteostraci, Agnatha) from the Lower Devonian of Severnaya Zemlya, Russia. OCLC 1228830520.
[edit]