A New Wuttagoonaspid (Placodermi, Arthrodira) from the Lower Devonian of Yunnan (South China): Origin, Dispersal, and Paleobiogeographic Significance

Wuttagoonaspida is a very peculiar group of Arthrodira, hitherto known only in the Early-Middle Devonian deposits of Australia. The new genus and species Yiminaspis shenme described here is known from an incomplete skull roof from the Pragian of Zhaotong (Yunnan, South China). Despite sharing some f...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. - Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. - 28(2008), 1, Seite 12-20
1. Verfasser: Dupret, Vincent (VerfasserIn)
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2008
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
Schlagworte:Biological sciences Physical sciences Business Applied sciences
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Wuttagoonaspida is a very peculiar group of Arthrodira, hitherto known only in the Early-Middle Devonian deposits of Australia. The new genus and species Yiminaspis shenme described here is known from an incomplete skull roof from the Pragian of Zhaotong (Yunnan, South China). Despite sharing some features with the Petalichthyida (e.g. two pairs of posterior pitlines), it presents many features of the genus Wuttagoonaspis (e.g. long preorbital plates not separated by the pineal plate, pineal plate placed further anteriorly from the orbits). Some thoracic armor material, also from Zhaotong, is referred to this taxon on the basis of the ornamentation. The occurrence of such a basal arthrodire from the Lower Devonian of China, added to the ante-Emsian geographic isolation of the South China block (evidenced by its vertebrate endemism rate), suggests a Chinese origin for the Wuttagoonaspididae, and a migration episode into the northeastern margin of Gondwana dated at the end of the Pragian (E'Em bioevent).
ISSN:19372809