Cyathaspidida is a

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

of extinct cyathaspidiform

heterostracan Heterostraci (Ancient Greek, ἕτερος+ὄστρακον "those itha different shell" i is pl. of -us is an extinct subclass of pteraspidomorph jawless vertebrate that lived primarily in marine and estuary environments. Heterostraci exi ...

agnatha Agnatha (, Ancient Greek 'without jaws') is an infraphylum of jawless fish in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, consisting of both present (cyclostomes) and extinct ( conodonts and ostracoderms) species. Among recent animals, cyclosto ...

ns whose fossils are found in Silurian to Lower Devonian marine strata of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

.Lundgren, Mette, and Henning Blom. "Phylogenetic relationships of the cyathaspidids (Heterostraci)." GFF 135.1 (2013): 74-84. In life, they are thought to be benthic animals that lived most of their lives either mostly buried in or resting directly on top of the substrate.

Taxonomy

The cyathaspidids of Cyathaspidida were tadpole-like animals with drum-shaped, cigar-shaped or wedge-shaped cephalothoraxes, and were anatomically similar to several other heterostracan groups. However, with some groups, such as the traquairaspids, cardiopeltids, and corvaspidids, this similarity appears to be superficial. With other groups, namely the tolypelepidids, the similarity suggests a close relationship. The type genus of the tolypelepidids, '' Tolypelepis'', in particular, was determined to be the sister-taxon of Cyathaspidida. Originally, the cyathaspidid genera were organized together within the family Cyathaspididae. Later, the genera were then organized into subfamilies, and these subfamilies would eventually be promoted to full familial status, including Irregularaspididae, Anglaspididae, Poraspididae, Ctenaspididae, etc. In 2013, Lundgren and Blom reassessed several specimens of cyathaspidids, and reorganized them into three families, Cyathaspidae, Ariaspidae and Ctenaspidae.

Cyathaspidae

Cyathaspidae contains most of the genera originally contained within Cyathaspididae, as well as those genera contained within Irregularaspididae, and Poraspididae. In addition to the type genus, ''

Cyathaspis ''Cyathaspis'' is the type genus of the heterostracan order Cyathaspidiformes. Fossils are found in late Silurian strata in the Cunningham Creek Formation, New Brunswick, Canada and Europe, especially in the Downton Castle Sandstone of Great B ...

'', Cyathaspidae contains the following genera: '' Americaspis'', '' Archegonaspis'', '' Capitaspis'', '' Dikenaspis'', '' Dinaspidella'', '' Homaspidella'', '' Irregulareaspis'', '' Nahanniaspis'', '' Pionaspis'', ''

Poraspis ''Poraspis'' is an extinct genus of heterostracan. Fossils are found in Late Silurian and Early Devonian marine strata of Norway, Canada and the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United ...

'', '' Ptomaspis'', '' Seretaspis'', '' Steinaspis'', '' Torpedaspis'', and '' Veronaspis''.

Ariaspidae

Family Ariaspidae contains ''

Ariaspis ''Ariaspis'' is an extinct genus of cyathaspidiform heterostracan agnathan. Fossils are found in marine strata of Canada and Europe from the late Silurian period until its extinction during the Early Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geolo ...

'', and its sister-taxa originally contained within Anglaspididae/Anglaspidinae, including '' Anglaspis'', '' Listraspis'', '' Liliaspis'', and '' Paraliliaspis''.

Ctenaspidae

If Amphiaspidida can be ignored as a daughter-taxon, the family Ctenaspidae contains '' Ctenaspis'' and its various sister-taxa originally contained within both Ctenaspididae and Ctenaspididae, including '' Allocryptaspis'', '' Alainaspis'', '' Zaphoctenaspis'', '' Arctictenaspis'', and '' Boothiaspis'', which was first described as a "Canadian amphiaspid." Ctenaspis NT small

References

Devonian jawless fish Silurian jawless fish Devonian fish of Europe Silurian fish of Europe Devonian fish of North America Silurian fish of North America Cyathaspidiformes Devonian first appearances Silurian extinctions {{Devonian-jawless-fish-stub