Qataraspis

Last updated

Qataraspis
Temporal range: Late Devonian
Qataraspis holotype.png
NHMUK PV P41933 (left) and NHMUK PV P41934 (right)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Placodermi
Order: Arthrodira
Family: Arctolepididae
Genus: Qataraspis
White, 1969
Type species
Qataraspis deprofundis
White, 1969

Qataraspis [1] (meaning "Qatar shield") is an extinct genus of primitive arthrodire placoderm from the Late? Devonian of Qatar. [2] The type species is Q. deprofundis. [3]

Contents

Discovery and naming

The holotype, NHMUK PV P41933 and NHMUK PV P41934 (an almost complete right anterior lateral plate), was discovered during the 1950s by the Iraq Petroleum Company within the 4.5 inches (11 cm) wide borehole DK 68 at a depth of 3,828 metres (12,559 ft), making it the deepest known occurrence of a fossil vertebrate to date. [3] The holotype was sent to England to be studied and Qataraspis deprofundis was named and described by White (1969). [3]

Casts of the holotype also exist, under specimen numbers PV P 75116 and PV P 75117. [4]

Classification

White (1969) classified Qataraspis as a basal member of the Arthrodira. [3] This classification was followed through by Denison (1978) in a review of the Placodermi, where it was placed in the Arctolepididae. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Dunkleosteus</i> Genus of extinct fishes

Dunkleosteus is an extinct genus of large arthrodire ("jointed-neck") fish that existed during the Late Devonian period, about 382–358 million years ago. It was a pelagic fish inhabiting open waters, and one of the first apex predators of any ecosystem.

Calamospondylus is a genus of theropod dinosaur. It lived during the Early Cretaceous and its fossils were found on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The type species is C. oweni.

<i>Sarcosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Sarcosaurus is a genus of basal neotheropod dinosaur, roughly 3.5 metres (11 ft) long. It lived in what is now England and maybe Ireland and Scotland during the Hettangian-Sinemurian stages of the Early Jurassic, about 199-196 million years ago. Sarcosaurus is one of the earliest known Jurassic theropods, and one of only a handful of theropod genera from this time period. Along with Dracoraptor hanigani it is one of the two described neotheropods from the lowermost Jurassic of the United Kingdom.

<i>Nyasasaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Nyasasaurus is an extinct genus of avemetatarsalian archosaur from the putatively Middle Triassic Manda Formation of Tanzania that may be the earliest known dinosaur. The type species Nyasasaurus parringtoni was first described in 1956 in the doctoral thesis of English paleontologist Alan J. Charig, but it was not formally described until 2013.

<i>Erythrosuchus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Erythrosuchus is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptiles from the Triassic of South Africa. Remains have been found from the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of the Beaufort Group in the Karoo of South Africa.

Teleosaurus is an extinct genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform found in the Middle Jurassic Calcaire de Caen Formation of France. It was approximately 3 metres (10 ft) in length. The holotype is MNHN AC 8746, a quarter of a skull and other associated postcranial remains, while other fragmentary specimens are known. The type species is T. cadomensis, but a second species, T. geoffroyi may also exist. It was previously considered a wastebasket taxon, with many other remains assigned to the genus.

<i>Pliosaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Pliosaurus is an extinct genus of thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Late Jurassic of Europe and South America. Most European species of Pliosaurus measured around 8 metres (26 ft) long and weighed about 5 metric tons, but P. rossicus and P. funkei would have been one of the largest plesiosaurs of all time, exceeding 10 metres (33 ft) in length. This genus has contained many species in the past but recent reviews found only six to be valid, while the validity of two additional species awaits a petition to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Currently, P. brachyspondylus and P. macromerus are considered dubious, while P. portentificus is considered undiagnostic. Species of this genus are differentiated from other pliosaurids based on seven autapomorphies, including teeth that are triangular in cross section. Their diet would have included fish, cephalopods, and marine reptiles.

<i>Plesiosuchus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Plesiosuchus is an extinct genus of geosaurine metriorhynchid crocodyliform known from the Late Jurassic of Dorset, England and possibly also Spain. It contains a single species, Plesiosuchus manselii.

<i>Dolicorhamphus</i> Extinct genus of pterosaurs

Dolicorhamphus is an extinct genus of pterosaurs from the Middle Jurassic Taynton Limestone Formation and Fuller's Earth Formations of England. The genus contains two species, D. bucklandii and D. depressirostris.

<i>Attenborosaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Attenborosaurus is an extinct genus of pliosaurid from the Early Jurassic of Dorset, England. The type species is A. conybeari. The genus is named after David Attenborough, the species after William Conybeare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holonematidae</span> Extinct family of fishes

Holonematidae is an extinct family of relatively large arthrodire placoderms from the Early to Late Devonian. Almost all fossil specimens are of armor fragments, though, all have distinctive ornamentation, often of unique arrangements and patterns of tubercles, that are diagnostic of the family. The trunkshield is very elongated, giving the armor an overall "barrel" like appearance.

<i>Neopetalichthys</i>

Neopetalichthys yenmenpaensis is an extinct petalichthid placoderm from the Early Devonian of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buchanosteidae</span> Extinct family of fishes

Buchanosteidae is a family of arthrodire placoderms that lived from the Early to Middle Devonian. Fossils appear in various strata in Russia, Central Asia, Australia, and China.

Langeronyx is an extinct genus of basal rhynchosaurid known from the early Middle Triassic Bromsgrove Sandstone Formation of Warwickshire, UK. It contains a single species, Langeronyx brodiei, originally included in the genus Rhynchosaurus. R. brodiei was first described and named by Michael Benton in 1990, but its redescription by Martín D. Ezcurra, Felipe Montefeltro and Richard J. Butler in 2016 recovered it as more closely related to the more advance hyperodapedontine than to the type species of Rhynchosaurus and thus it was moved to its own genus. The generic name Langeronyx honors the Brazilian paleontologist Max Cardoso Langer in recognition of his rhynchosaur research, combined with the Greek onyx (óνυξ) meaning "claw", a common suffix for rhynchosaur genera. L. brodiei is known solely from the holotype, a partial skull divided into the two specimens WARMS G6097/1 and NHMUK PV R8495, housed in the Warwickshire Museum, Warwick and Natural History Museum, London, respectively. Other specimens originally referred to R. brodiei either do not overlap with its type or can be just as likely referred to other basal rhynchosaurids. L. brodiei is one of two basal archosauromorphs known from the Bromsgrove Sandstone Formation, the other being the lesser known Rhombopholis scutulata.

Heightingtonaspis is an extinct genus of primitive arthrodire placoderm fish from the Devonian period in Great Britain, and currently contains three species.

<i>Actinolepis</i> (placoderm) Extinct genus of fishes

Actinolepis is an extinct genus of actinolepid placoderm from the Early Devonian. Four species are known: A. magna from Estonia, A. spinosa from Latvia, the type species A. tuberculata from New Zealand and A. zaikai from Belarus.

<i>Klobiodon</i> Genus of rhamphorhynchid pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic

Klobiodon is a genus of rhamphorhynchid pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic Taynton Limestone Formation of Oxfordshire, England.

<i>Adratiklit</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Adratiklit is an extinct genus of herbivorous stegosaurian dinosaur that lived on the supercontinent Gondwana during the Middle Jurassic period. The genus contains a single species, Adratiklit boulahfa. Its remains were found in the El Mers Group, probably in the El Mers II Formation (Bathonian), near Boulahfa, south of Boulemane, Fès-Meknes, north Morocco.

<i>Spicomellus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Spicomellus is an extinct genus of herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived in the supercontinent Gondwana during the Middle Jurassic Period. The type and only known species is Spicomellus afer, named and described in 2021. Its remains were found in the third subunit of the El Mers Group (Bathonian-Callovian), near Boulahfa, south of Boulemane, Fès-Meknès, Morocco. The genus name means "spiked collar", from the Latin 'spica' meaning spike, and 'mellum' meaning spiked dog collar and the specific name 'afer' means "the African".

<i>Pendraig</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Pendraig is a genus of coelophysoid theropod dinosaur from South Wales. It contains one species, Pendraig milnerae, named after Angela Milner. The specimen was discovered in the Pant-y-Ffynnon quarry. In life it would have measured 1 m (3.3 ft) in length.

References

  1. "Qataraspis". Fossilworks. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 Denison, R. (1978). Placodermi. In H.-P. Schultze (ed.), Handbook of Palaeoichthyology 2:1-128
  3. 1 2 3 4 White, E.I. (1969). The deepest vertebrate fossil and other arctolepid fishes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 1(3): 293-310
  4. Natural History Museum (2014). Collection specimens [Data set]. Natural History Museum. https://doi.org/10.5519/0002965