Pteraspididae

Pteraspididae is an extinct family of heterostracan vertebrates. It is an Early Devonian-aged family that contains the stereotypical, torpedo-shaped pteraspidids, such as the type genus, Pteraspis, and its close relatives Errivaspis and Rhinopteraspis, that are popularly thought to have actively swam about in the water column. The elongated rostral plate is thought to help with their hydrodynamic ability. Various genera are found in various marine and estuarine strata of Early Devonian Europe and North America.

Pteraspididae

Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PteraspidiformesPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chordata

Time the record covers

At least 29 million years on record.

The record covers at least 422.7 Mya to 393.47 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 426.7 Mya to 387.95 Mya.

Silurian — about 4 of 43 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 39 of 43 occurrencesDevonian427–426 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences426–425 Mya — about 1 occurrence425–423 Mya — about 1 occurrence423–422 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences421–419 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences419–418 Mya — about 5 occurrences418–417 Mya — about 5 occurrences417–415 Mya — about 5 occurrences415–414 Mya — about 5 occurrences414–413 Mya — about 5 occurrences413–411 Mya — about 3 occurrences411–410 Mya — about 2 occurrences410–409 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences409–407 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences407–406 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences406–405 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences405–403 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences403–402 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences402–401 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences401–399 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences399–398 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences398–397 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences397–395 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences395–394 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences394–393 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences393–391 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences391–390 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences390–389 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences389–387 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences422.7 Mya393.47 Mya427.5 Mya387.2 Mya

43 occurrences of Pteraspididae on record, most of them in the Devonian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

43 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

16 formations

Tyver — 49.20°N, 25.62°ETyver — 48.64°N, 25.73°ETyver — 49.29°N, 25.64°EDniester — 48.67°N, 25.69°EDniester — 48.63°N, 25.74°EDniester — 48.77°N, 25.61°EBabin Sandstone — 48.83°N, 28.00°ELower Red Downton Sandstone — 52.05°N, 2.45°WLower Red Downton Sandstone — 52.06°N, 3.02°WIvanie — 49.20°N, 25.70°EIvanie — 48.67°N, 25.76°EIvanie — 48.72°N, 25.63°ELost Burro — 36.30°N, 116.96°WSomerset Island — 72.87°N, 93.75°WSomerset Island — 73.98°N, 95.28°WSpring Mountain — 44.37°N, 113.22°WChortkov — 48.63°N, 25.73°ESpokojnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°EPod''emnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°EOld Red — 48.68°N, 25.59°ESevy Dolomite — 39.62°N, 114.89°WPeel Sound — 73.95°N, 95.23°WDelorme — 63.23°N, 128.01°WDrake Bay — 73.46°N, 100.49°W

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The named rock units Pteraspididae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pteraspididae and its relatives

Devonian

Where Pteraspididae and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

178 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 29 sites for Pteraspididae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

15 references

Each of the 43 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 3 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Pteraspididae

Credit
Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com )
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Pteraspididae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPteraspidiformes through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Claypole 1885