Brindabellaspis

Taxobox
name = Brindabellaspis stensioi
fossil_range = Silurian? - Early Devonian

---

status = Fossil
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
infraphylum = Gnathostomata
classis = Placodermi
classis_authority = McCoy, 1848
ordo = Brindabellaspida
ordo_authority = Young, G.C., 1980
species = "Brindabellaspis stensioi" †

"Brindabellaspis stensioi" ("Erik Stensiö's Brindabella Ranges Shield") was a long-snouted placoderm from the Early Devonian of the Taemas-Wee Jasper reef in Australia. When it was first discovered in 1980, it was originally regarded as a Weejasperaspid acanthothoracid due to anatomical similarities with the other species found at the reef.

According to Philippe Janvier, anatomical similarities of "B. stensioi"'s brain and braincase with those of jawless fish, such as the Osteostraci and the Galeaspida, strongly suggest that "B. stensioi" is a basal placoderm closest to the ancestral placoderm.

References

*Young, G.C. 1980, A new Early Devonian placoderm from New South Wales, Australia, with a discussion of placoderm phylogeny: "Palaeontographica" 167A pp. 10–76. 2 pl., 27 fig.
* Janvier, Philippe. Early Vertebrates Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-854047-7
* Long, John A. The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-8018-5438-5

External links

* [http://www.palaeos.org/Brindabellaspis_stensioi Palaeos article on "B. stensioi"]