Lepidaspis serrata

Taxobox
name = "Lepidaspis"
fossil_range = Silurian - Devonian


regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Agnatha
subclassis = Pteraspidomorphi
ordo = Heterostraci
genus = "Lepidaspis"
species = "L. serrata"

"Lepidaspis serrata" ("Serrated Scaley Shield") is an extinct heterostracan jawless fish from Early Devonian Canada. Its genus name refers to the fact that the shield is composed of hundreds of tiny scales.

Although it is regarded as a heterostracan, its exact placement is regarded as "incertae sedis", as the fact that it is currently impossible to discern where its dorsal and ventral plates (which are made up of a mosaic of the aforementioned tiny scales) end or begin. Some experts regard it as being descended from the basal heterostracans of the Silurian.

External links

[http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/Metazoa/deuterostoma/chordata/Agnatha/Pteraspidomorphi.htm Pteraspidomorphi] at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive