''Nerepisacanthus'' 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 acanthodian, probably acritolepid, from Middle

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

(?late Llandovery ( Telychian) to Ludlow stages) deposits of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. ''Nerepisacanthus'' is known from many incomplete but articulated specimens. It was collected from the Cunningham Creek Formation, near Nerepis, southern

. It was first named by Carole J. Burrow in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

is ''Nerepisacanthus denisoni''. Additional specimen is known from

Bertie Formation The Bertie Group or Bertie Limestone, also referred to as the Bertie Dolomite and the Bertie Formation, is an upper Silurian ( Pridoli, or Cayugan and Ulsterian age in the local chronologies) geologic group and Lagerstätte in southern Ontario ...

, making that species the oldest near-complete acanthodian.

References

Acanthodii genera Silurian fish of North America Paleozoic life of New Brunswick Bertie Formation Fossil taxa described in 2011 {{silurian-animal-stub