''Errivaspis'' 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 pteraspid

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 ...

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

known from fossils at the Wayne Hereford Quarry, of

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and of

Podolia Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central ...

, Early Devonian

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. It was originally described by Dr. Errol Ivor White as one of five form-variants of ''

Pteraspis ''Pteraspis'' (from el, πτερόν 'wing' or 'fin' and el, ἀσπίς 'shield') is an extinct genus of pteraspidid heterostracan agnathan vertebrate that lived from the Lochkovian to Eifelian epochs of the Devonian period in what is now ...

rostrata'', i.e., "''Pteraspis rostrata var. waynesis''. In 1984, Alain Blieck moved ''var. waynesis'' into its own genus, ''Errivaspis'', which he named after Dr. White.Blieck, Alain. "Les Hétérostracés Ptéraspidiformes, Agnathes du Silurien-Dévonien du Continent nord-atlantique et des blocs avoisinants: révision systématique, phylogénie, biostratigraphie, biogéographie." (1984). Other later researchers would then mistakenly assume that Blieck synonymized the entire genus of ''Pteraspis'' into ''Errivaspis''.

Description

''Errivaspis'' had large dorsal plates and ventral plates, the linking branchial plate, as well as a cornual plate at the side, an orbital plate around the eye. A

rostral Rostral may refer to: Anatomy * Rostral (anatomical term), situated toward the oral or nasal region * Rostral bone, in ceratopsian dinosaurs * Rostral organ, of certain fish * Rostral scale, in snakes and scaled reptiles Other uses * Rostral colu ...

plate formed a pointed ‘snout’, several small plates around the mouth, and a dorsal spine pointing backwards. The posterior half of the body was covered with small

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

. The caudal fin was fan-shaped.

References

Michael J. Benton Michael James Benton One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 8 April 1956) is a British palaeontologist, and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the School of Earth Sciences ...

, "Vertebrate Palaeontology" 3rd Edition, p. 48 - 49 (Blackwell Publishing, 2005) Early Devonian fish Pteraspidiformes genera Early Devonian fish of Europe {{Devonian-jawless-fish-stub