Protopteraspididae

Protopteraspididae is an extinct family of pteraspidid heterostracan agnathans. Fossils of the various genera are found in early Devonian-aged marine strata. Protopteraspidids were once thought to represent a taxon of basal pteraspidids but recent evaluations demonstrate that Protopteraspididae is a paraphyletic group of various transitional forms representing a gradual transition between the more advanced Pteraspoidei, and the anchipteraspidids and the Psammosteids.

Protopteraspididae

Apokryltaros · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 416.8 Mya to 393.47 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 419.62 Mya to 387.95 Mya.

Silurian — about 0 of 65 occurrencesDevonian — about 65 of 65 occurrencesDevonian420–419 Mya — about 6 occurrences419–418 Mya — about 13 occurrences418–417 Mya — about 13 occurrences417–416 Mya — about 6 occurrences416–415 Mya — about 5 occurrences415–414 Mya — about 5 occurrences414–413 Mya — about 4 occurrences413–411 Mya — about 2 occurrences411–410 Mya — about 2 occurrences410–409 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences409–408 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences408–407 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences407–406 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences406–405 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences405–404 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences404–403 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences403–402 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences402–400 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences400–399 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences399–398 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences398–397 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences397–396 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences396–395 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences395–394 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences394–393 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences393–392 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences392–391 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences391–390 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences390–388 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences388–387 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences416.8 Mya393.47 Mya420.3 Mya387.3 Mya

65 occurrences of Protopteraspididae 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

65 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

20 formations

Psammosteus 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°WBen Nevis — 79.63°N, 12.29°EFraenkelryggen — 79.83°N, 12.00°EFraenkelryggen — 79.67°N, 12.37°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°ETyver — 49.20°N, 25.62°ETyver — 49.32°N, 25.61°ETyver — 49.30°N, 25.70°ESpokojnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°EPeel Sound — 73.76°N, 98.70°WPeel Sound — 73.79°N, 98.58°WPeel Sound — 73.78°N, 98.47°WDniester — 48.86°N, 25.59°EDniester — 48.69°N, 25.62°EDniester — 48.77°N, 25.61°EDelorme — 63.23°N, 128.01°WKnoydart — 45.62°N, 61.97°WHolland Quarry Shale — 41.67°N, 83.55°WLievin — 50.42°N, 2.77°EPod''emnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°EVstrechnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°ERoad River — 63.33°N, 126.81°WSnowblind — 75.07°N, 93.57°WFreshwater West — 52.49°N, 2.52°WDrake Bay — 73.44°N, 101.29°WRivieratoppen — 79.62°N, 12.75°EWood Bay — 78.85°N, 15.45°E

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

Protopteraspididae and its relatives

Devonian

Where Protopteraspididae and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

273 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 56 sites for Protopteraspididae, 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

14 references

Each of the 65 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. 2 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 Protopteraspididae

Credit
Apokryltaros
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Protopteraspididae 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. Novitskaya 1983