Drepanolepis

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Drepanolepis
Drepanolepis.png
Reconstruction of Drepanolepis maerssae
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Agnatha
Class: Thelodonti
Order: Furcacaudiformes
Genus: Drepanolepis
Species

Drepanolepis maerssae

Drepanolepis is an extinct genus of furcacaudiform thelodont which lived in the Northwest Territories of Canada during the Early Devonian period. It hails from the MOTH locality in the Mackenzie Mountains. [1]

Morphology

Drepanolepis possessed a tall, angelfish-like body, with a ventral mouth and a hypocercal tail. The gill atrium is large for this order, and the nasal runs down to the oral cavity from the orbit. The oral cavity is jawless, with no premaxilla or maxilla present. [2] [1]

References

  1. 1 2 Wilson, Mark V. H.; Caldwell, Michael W. (1998-04-10). "The Furcacaudiformes: a new order of jawless vertebrates with thelodont scales, based on articulated Silurian and Devonian fossils from northern Canada" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (1): 10–29. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011031. ISSN   0272-4634. JSTOR   4523870.
  2. Wilson, Mark V. H.; Caldwell, Michael W. (1993-02-01). "New Silurian and Devonian fork-tailed 'thelodonts' are jawless vertebrates with stomachs and deep bodies". Nature. 361 (6411): 442–444. Bibcode:1993Natur.361..442W. doi:10.1038/361442a0. ISSN   0028-0836.