Brindabellaspis

Brindabellaspis stensioi ("Erik Stensiö's Brindabella Ranges Shield") is a flat-snouted placoderm with a platypus-like snout from the Early Devonian of the Taemas-Wee Jasper reef in Australia.[1] When it was first discovered in 1980, it was originally regarded as a Weejasperaspid acanthothoracid due to anatomical similarities with the other species found at the reef.

Brindabellaspis
Temporal range: Early Devonian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: †Placodermi
Order: †Brindabellaspida
Gardiner, 1993
Genus: †Brindabellaspis
Young, 1980
Species:
†B. stensioi
Binomial name
†Brindabellaspis stensioi
Young, 1980

According to Philippe Janvier, anatomical similarities of B. stensioi's brain and braincase with those of jawless fish, such as the Osteostraci and the Galeaspida, strongly suggest that B. stensioi is a basal placoderm closest to the ancestral placoderm.

References
  1. Early Devonian Fish Had Platypus-Like Snout
  • Young, Gavin C. 1980, A new Early Devonian placoderm from New South Wales, Australia, with a discussion of placoderm phylogeny: Palaeontographica 167A pp. 10–76. 2 pl., 27 fig.
  • Janvier, Philippe. Early Vertebrates Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-854047-7
  • Long, John A. The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-8018-5438-5


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