The Pituriaspida (' Pituri-shield' or 'hallucinogen-shield') are a small group of extinct armored jawless fishes with tremendous nose-like

rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * Ros ...

s, which lived in the marine, deltaic environments of

Middle Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, w ...

Australia (about 390 Ma). They are known only by two species, '' Pituriaspis doylei'' and '' Neeyambaspis enigmatica'' found in a single sandstone location of the

Georgina Basin The Georgina Basin is a large (c. 330,000 km2) intracratonic sedimentary basin in central and northern Australia, lying mostly within the Northern Territory and partly within Queensland.Smith, KG (1972). "Stratigraphy of the Georgina Basin. ...

, in Western

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. "Pituriaspida" is often translated as 'hallucinogenic shield.' Pituri is a hallucinogenic drug, made from the leaves of the Corkwood Tree and ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'' ash, and used by local Aborigine

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

s for vision quests. The pituriaspids' discoverer, Dr Gavin Young, named ''

Pituriaspis ''Pituriaspis doylei'' is one of two known species of jawless fish belonging to the Class Pituriaspida, and is the better known of the two. The species lived in estuaries during the Givetian epoch of the Middle Devonian, 390 million years ago i ...

'' after the drug because, upon examining the first specimens, he suspected he was hallucinating (Long, p 59). The better studied species - '' Pituriaspis doylei'', which had a superficial resemblance to the

Osteostraci The class Osteostraci (meaning "bony shells") is an extinct taxon of bony-armored jawless fish, termed "ostracoderms", that lived in what is now North America, Europe and Russia from the Middle Silurian to Late Devonian. Anatomically speaking, t ...

, had an elongate headshield, that, coupled with its spear-like rostrum, gave it a throwing-dart-like appearance. '' Neeyambaspis enigmatica'' had a much smaller and shorter rostrum, and a more triangular headshield, making it look as though it were a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

pick with a tail.

References

*Janvier, Philippe. Early Vertebrates. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998 (). *Long, John A. The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996 ().

External links

Pituriaspida
Middle Devonian first appearances Givetian extinctions Prehistoric fish classes {{Devonian-jawless-fish-stub