''Wladysagitta'' 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 ...

osteostracan 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, ...

jawless fish 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, cyclostomes ...

that existed during the

lower Devonian The Early Devonian is the first of three epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the Pragian from and then by the Emsian, w ...

period of what is now

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 ...

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 ...

. This taxon was named in honor of Polish paleontologist Dr. Władysław Zych (1899–1981), and from the Latin sagitta, meaning arrow, which is in reference to the arrow-like shape of its skull.Voichyshyn, Victor. (2006). New osteostracans from the Lower Devonian terrigenous deposits of Podolia, Ukraine. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 51.

Description

''Wladysagitta'', like other osteostracans, possesses very advanced features for an agnathan; namely, an armored headshield with complicated cranial anatomy, paired fins and rows of plated scales. It is remarkable among osteostracans for possessing a rostral process, a beaklike structure unusual for this class, which usually possesses blunted, horseshoe-shaped headshields. It is also distinct for being ornamented by a number of unusually prominent, thorn-like tubercles on its headshield as preserved in some specimens. Like its relatives, its flat, spade-like head, dorsally orientated eye sockets and lack of jaws indicate that it was probably a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

, bottom-feeding animal, and given its taxonomic placement, it likely made its home in marine environments. ''Wladysagitta'' is relatively small in size compared to other osteostracans. The headshield of the holotype is around long and approximately the same in width, though slightly larger specimens do exist. Wladysagitta janvieri

Species

This genus includes only two described species: ''W. janvieri'' and ''W. acutirostris''. The type species, ''W. janvieri'', is comparatively larger, broader and has a more pronounced rostral structure, whereas ''W. acutirostris'' is slightly smaller, narrower and has a more blunted headshield shape. The two species have similar headshield curvatures and, due to the poorly preserved rostral process of ''W. acutirostris'', the differences between them are still somewhat unclear.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107210134 Osteostraci genera