Pteraspidomorphi

Pteraspidomorpha is an extinct class of early jawless fish. They have long been regarded as closely related or even ancestral to jawed vertebrates, but the few characteristics they share with the latter are now considered as basal traits for all vertebrates.

Pteraspidomorphi

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
Also called
jawless fishPBDB
Sits inside
VertebrataPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chordata

Time the record covers

At least 149 million years on record.

The record covers at least 473.1 Mya to 323.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 477.1 Mya to 298.9 Mya.

Ordovician — about 37 of 832 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 128 of 832 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 665 of 832 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 2 of 832 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 0 of 832 occurrences481–474 Mya — about 1 occurrence474–468 Mya — about 3 occurrences468–462 Mya — about 3 occurrences462–456 Mya — about 8 occurrences456–450 Mya — about 19 occurrences450–444 Mya — about 3 occurrences444–437 Mya — about 4 occurrences437–431 Mya — about 6 occurrences431–425 Mya — about 30 occurrences425–419 Mya — about 137 occurrences419–413 Mya — about 343 occurrences413–407 Mya — about 53 occurrences407–400 Mya — about 28 occurrences400–394 Mya — about 38 occurrences394–388 Mya — about 44 occurrences388–382 Mya — about 80 occurrences382–376 Mya — about 18 occurrences376–369 Mya — about 10 occurrences369–363 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences363–357 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences326–320 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences320–314 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences314–308 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences308–302 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences302–295 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences473.1 Mya323.4 Mya481 Mya295 Mya

832 occurrences of Pteraspidomorphi 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

832 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

134 formations

Delorme — 62.77°N, 126.50°WDelorme — 63.17°N, 127.88°WDelorme — 62.55°N, 127.75°WDelorme — 63.42°N, 128.00°WDelorme — 63.55°N, 128.65°WDelorme — 63.53°N, 128.70°WDelorme — 61.71°N, 124.98°WDelorme — 63.23°N, 128.01°WPeel Sound — 73.25°N, 93.50°WPeel Sound — 73.77°N, 98.48°WPeel Sound — 72.23°N, 96.55°WPeel Sound — 73.95°N, 95.23°WPeel Sound — 72.83°N, 93.70°WPeel Sound — 73.76°N, 98.70°WPeel Sound — 73.79°N, 98.58°WPeel Sound — 73.42°N, 100.41°WPeel Sound — 73.48°N, 97.45°WDniester — 48.77°N, 25.61°EDniester — 48.86°N, 25.59°EDniester — 48.67°N, 25.69°EDniester — 48.86°N, 25.48°EDniester — 49.14°N, 25.05°EDniester — 48.69°N, 25.62°EDniester — 48.63°N, 25.74°EDniester — 49.06°N, 25.39°EDniester — 49.07°N, 25.20°EDniester — 49.19°N, 25.37°EBen Nevis — 79.63°N, 12.29°EKureika — 60.34°N, 107.02°EKureika — 66.51°N, 87.24°EKureika — 66.94°N, 88.33°EKureika — 68.03°N, 88.63°EKureika — 69.39°N, 88.21°EFraenkelryggen — 79.83°N, 12.00°EFraenkelryggen — 79.67°N, 12.37°ESomerset Island — 73.98°N, 95.23°WSomerset Island — 74.13°N, 94.15°WSomerset Island — 72.85°N, 93.28°WSomerset Island — 72.87°N, 93.75°WSomerset Island — 73.98°N, 95.28°WSomerset Island — 71.49°N, 93.46°WSomerset Island — 74.02°N, 94.58°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.53°N, 2.48°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.50°N, 2.62°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.42°N, 2.72°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.39°N, 2.63°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.37°N, 2.54°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.41°N, 2.32°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.34°N, 2.39°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.09°N, 2.87°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.17°N, 2.44°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.15°N, 2.73°WPsammosteus Limestone — 51.94°N, 3.40°WPsammosteus Limestone — 51.71°N, 2.51°WPod''emnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°ETyver — 48.98°N, 25.71°ETyver — 49.20°N, 25.62°ETyver — 49.32°N, 25.61°ETyver — 49.30°N, 25.70°ETyver — 48.64°N, 25.73°EBeartooth Butte — 44.87°N, 108.07°WBeartooth Butte — 44.95°N, 109.62°WGull River — 46.17°N, 83.92°WAruküla — 57.55°N, 25.28°EWood Bay — 78.77°N, 15.48°EWood Bay — 79.39°N, 13.80°EWood Bay — 79.29°N, 13.72°EWood Bay — 79.45°N, 13.50°EWood Bay — 79.24°N, 13.40°EWood Bay — 79.57°N, 13.14°EWood Bay — 78.89°N, 15.48°ESpokojnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°EOld Red Sandstone — 51.86°N, 2.73°WOld Red Sandstone — 51.82°N, 2.72°WAruküla — 59.37°N, 25.08°EIvanie — 49.20°N, 25.70°EIvanie — 49.05°N, 25.72°EIvanie — 48.67°N, 25.76°EIvanie — 48.72°N, 25.63°EUryum — 73.52°N, 91.30°EVstrechnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°ELost Burro — 36.30°N, 116.96°WSevy Dolomite — 39.62°N, 114.89°WSevy Dolomite — 38.69°N, 112.56°WBurtnieki — 58.10°N, 25.55°ECape Phillips — 75.13°N, 95.00°WCape Phillips — 75.87°N, 94.58°W

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The named rock units Pteraspidomorphi has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 110 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 99 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pteraspidomorphi and its relatives

Devonian

Where Pteraspidomorphi and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

1,221 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 321 sites for Pteraspidomorphi, and this reads 240 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

142 references

Each of the 832 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. 130 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 Pteraspidomorphi

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

No 3D scan of Pteraspidomorphi was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itVertebrata through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Goodrich 1909)