''Drepanaspis'' (from el, δρεπάνη 'sickle' and el, ἀσπίς 'shield') is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of primitive jawless
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
from
Early Devonian
The Early Devonian is the first of three Epoch (geology), epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian Series (stratigraphy), series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the P ...
marine strata of Europe. ''D. gemuendenensis'', of the
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...
lagerstätte
A Lagerstätte (, from ''Lager'' 'storage, lair' '' Stätte'' 'place'; plural ''Lagerstätten'') is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues. These for ...
is the best known, and most thoroughly studied species, as it is known from several articulated specimens.
Description
''Drepanaspis'' was a flattened creature with a heavily armored body, superficially
ray
Ray may refer to:
Fish
* Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea
* Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin
Science and mathematics
* Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point
* Ray (g ...
-like in appearance. Its mouth faced upwards, unlike most other Heterostracans, which had downward-facing mouths. It also had small, widely spaced eyes. It is presumed to have foraged the ocean floor for food.
This frying-pan-shaped fish may have been the ancestor of the giant, meter-long, meter-wide
Psammosteid heterostracans of the Late Devonian.
Gallery
'
See also
*
*
*
References
Heterostraci genera
Lochkovian life
Devonian jawless fish
Early Devonian fish of Europe
Devonian Germany
Fossils of Germany
Hunsrück Slate fossils
Fossil taxa described in 1887
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