Pteraspidiformes

Pteraspidiformes is an extinct order of heterostracan agnathan vertebrates known from extensive fossil remains primarily from Early Devonian strata of Europe and North America, and from Upper Silurian Canada.

Pteraspidiformes

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
HeterostraciPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chordata

Time the record covers

At least 99 million years on record.

The record covers at least 422.7 Mya to 323.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 432.9 Mya to 298.9 Mya.

Silurian — about 8 of 349 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 339 of 349 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 2 of 349 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 0 of 349 occurrences436–431 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences431–426 Mya — about 1 occurrence426–422 Mya — about 6 occurrences422–417 Mya — about 73 occurrences417–412 Mya — about 87 occurrences412–408 Mya — about 29 occurrences408–403 Mya — about 11 occurrences403–398 Mya — about 13 occurrences398–394 Mya — about 19 occurrences394–389 Mya — about 17 occurrences389–384 Mya — about 41 occurrences384–380 Mya — about 31 occurrences380–375 Mya — about 10 occurrences375–371 Mya — about 9 occurrences371–366 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences366–361 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences361–357 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences324–319 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences319–315 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences315–310 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences310–306 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences306–301 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences301–296 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences422.7 Mya323.4 Mya436 Mya296 Mya

349 occurrences of Pteraspidiformes 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

349 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

73 formations

Dniester — 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°ETyver — 49.20°N, 25.62°ETyver — 49.32°N, 25.61°ETyver — 49.30°N, 25.70°ETyver — 48.64°N, 25.73°EPsammosteus 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°WBeartooth Butte — 44.87°N, 108.07°WBeartooth Butte — 44.95°N, 109.62°WWood 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°EBen Nevis — 79.63°N, 12.29°EPeel Sound — 72.23°N, 96.55°WPeel Sound — 73.95°N, 95.23°WPeel Sound — 73.76°N, 98.70°WPeel Sound — 73.79°N, 98.58°WPeel Sound — 73.78°N, 98.47°WPeel Sound — 73.42°N, 100.41°WOld Red Sandstone — 51.86°N, 2.73°WOld Red Sandstone — 51.82°N, 2.72°WAruküla — 57.55°N, 25.28°ESpokojnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°EBabin Sandstone — 48.83°N, 28.00°EBurtnieki — 58.10°N, 25.55°EAruküla — 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°EFraenkelryggen — 79.83°N, 12.00°EFraenkelryggen — 79.67°N, 12.37°EVstrechnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°ESomerset Island — 72.87°N, 93.75°WSomerset Island — 73.98°N, 95.28°WSomerset Island — 74.13°N, 94.15°WChortkiv — 48.66°N, 25.84°EChortkiv — 48.63°N, 25.86°EYam-Tesovo — 58.89°N, 30.56°EPod''emnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°ELost Burro — 36.30°N, 116.96°WGauja — 58.01°N, 25.38°EGauja — 57.27°N, 25.11°EWood Bay — 78.85°N, 15.45°EWood Bay — 78.89°N, 15.52°ESevy Dolomite — 39.62°N, 114.89°W

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The named rock units Pteraspidiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 49 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 58 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pteraspidiformes and its relatives

Devonian

Where Pteraspidiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

924 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 187 sites for Pteraspidiformes, 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

72 references

Each of the 349 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. 60 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 Pteraspidiformes

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

No 3D scan of Pteraspidiformes 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 itHeterostraci through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Berg 1940