Aethaspis

Aethaspis is an extinct genus of arthrodire placoderm fish from the Devonian period. Two species were described by Denison in 1958: Aethapsis major and Aethapsis utahensis. It is one of the more basal members of the order Arthrodira, as shown in the cladogram below:

No picture of Aethaspis was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Aethaspis, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ActinolepididaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Arthrodira
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Arthrodira
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthrodira

Time the record covers

At least 2.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 413.02 Mya to 410.62 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 419.62 Mya to 393.47 Mya.

Silurian — about 0 of 4 occurrencesDevonian — about 4 of 4 occurrencesDevonian420–419 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences419–418 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences418–417 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences417–417 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences417–416 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences416–415 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences415–414 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences414–413 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences413–412 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences412–411 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences411–410 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences410–409 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences409–408 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences408–407 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences407–407 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences407–406 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences406–405 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences405–404 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences404–403 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences403–402 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences402–401 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences401–400 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences400–399 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences399–398 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences398–397 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences397–397 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences397–396 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences396–395 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences395–394 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences394–393 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences413.02 Mya – 410.62 Mya420.1 Mya392.9 Mya

4 occurrences of Aethaspis 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

4 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

3 formations

Water Canyon — 41.62°N, 111.66°WHolland Quarry Shale — 41.67°N, 83.55°WBeartooth Butte — 44.87°N, 108.07°W

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The named rock units Aethaspis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Aethaspis and its relatives

Devonian

Where Aethaspis and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

38 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Aethaspis, 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

3 references

Each of the 4 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. 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 content0

No picture of Aethaspis was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Aethaspis, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Aethaspis 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 itActinolepididae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Denison 1958