Groenlandaspis

Groenlandaspis ("Greenland Shield") is an extinct genus of arthrodire from the Late Devonian. Fossils of the different species are found in late Devonian strata in all continents except eastern Asia. The generic name commemorates the fact that the first specimens of the type species (G.mirabilis) were found in Greenland.

Groenlandaspis
Temporal range: Late Devonian
Groenlandaspis riniensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: †Placodermi
Order: †Arthrodira
Family: †Groenlandaspididae
Genus: †Groenlandaspis
Heintz, 1932[1]
Type species
Groenlandaspis mirabilis
Heintz, 1932[2]
Other species
  • G. pennsylvanica Daeschler et al., 2003[3]
  • G. antarctica Ritchie, 1975[4]
  • G. riniensis(Gess and Hiller, 1995)[5]
  • G. disjectus (Woodward, 1891) (originally Coccosteus disjectus)[4]
  • G. potyi Olive et al., 2015[6]
  • G. theroni (Chaloner et al., 1980)[3]
  • G. seni Janvier, P. and A. Ritchie. 1977[7]
  • G. thorezi Heintz, 1932[8]

As with all other arthrodires, Groenlandaspis had a joint in the back of its head with its thoracic armor, allowing for its head to be thrown back, increasing its gape. However, as its head is somewhat compressed in comparison with many other arthrodires, and as the dorsal side came to a low, pyramid-like peak, it is believed that Groenlandaspis could not throw its head back very far. It was a relatively small fish, only 7.5 centimetres (3.0 in) in length[9],though G. riniensis reached almost a metre in length [10] It lived in coastal and fluvial waters, where it is thought to have fed on either very small prey, or detritus; the small dental plates in its mouth strongly suggest that it was incapable of tackling large prey.[9] The possibility that the plates may have been used to, at times, feed on bivalves has also been muted.[11]

Species
  • †G. mirabilis Heintz, 1932
  • †G. antarctica Ritchie, 1975
  • †G. riniensis Gess and Hiller, 1995
  • †G. disjectus Woodward, 1891(originally Coccosteus disjectus)
  • †G. pennsylvanica Daeschler et al., 2003
  • †G. potyi Olive et al., 2015
  • †G. seni Janvier and Ritchie, 1977
  • †G. thorezi Heintz, 1932

Groenlandaspis riniensis is one of two arthrodire placoderms described in 1999 from the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte in South Africa,[12][13] with a third species having been subsequently described. [14] The species name ‘riniensis’ derived from Rini or Rhini, the traditional isiXhosa name for Makhanda/Grahamstown,[15] making it the first ever vertebrate fossil to have an isiXhosa derived scientific name. G. riniensis appears to have spent its entire life cycle within the Waterloo Farm estuary as it is represented by a full ontogenetic series. [16]Evidence from other Late Devonian localities with similar placoderm taxa which suggest that while many larvae or small juveniles stayed in the littoral zone close to adult habitats, others may have moved upriver to avoid predation.[17] G. riniensis represents the most frequently preserved fish taxon from the Waterloo Farm site, and may have been the most common vertebrate within the palaeoenvironment, though its frequent preservation may be influenced by preservational bias. [18]

G. riniensis’ body shape suggests that it was most likely a bottom-resting taxon and the presence of crushing tooth plates, in the form of flat, noded infragnathals and superagnathals suggest that the species food may have included prey with hard external shells, e.g. molluscs [19] The armor length of G. riniensis according to the original description, was approximately 40 cm, with the head shield having a very broad marginal plate, narrow pineal plate, with the nuchal relatively narrow, being approximately half as broad as long. The trunk shield of this species was characterized as having an anterior lateral plate which is almost as broad as long with a relatively straight anterior margin; the median dorsal plate is low with an apex that is posteriorly directed; its posterior dorsolateral plate is very narrow with inflexion of the main lateral line canal situated very close to posterior margin. This species has ornamentation of widely spaced, coarse tubercles.[20]

A scatter of dissassociated adult Groenlandaspis riniensis trunk armour plates at the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte (anteriolateral at left, posterior dorsolateral at right (both upside down) and large elongate spinal towards the bottom).
Groenlandaspis riniensis hatchling from the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte.

References
  1. "Fossilworks: Groenlandaspis". fossilworks.org.
  2. Heintz, A., 1932: Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Devonischen Fischfaunen Ost-Grönlands. Skrifter om Svalbard og Ishavet, 42: 1–27.
  3. Daeschler, E. B., Frumes, A. C. & Mullison, C. F., 2003: Groenlandaspidid Placoderm Fishes from the Late Devonian of North America. Records of the Australian Museum, 55 (1): 45–60.
  4. Ritchie, A., 1975: Groenlandaspis in Antarctica, Australia and Europe. Nature, 254: 569–573.
  5. GESS, R. W. & HILLER, N. A. (1995b). Preliminary catalogue of fossil algal, plant,arthropod, and fish remains from a Late Devonian black shale near Grahamstown,South Africa. In Annals of the Cape Provincial Museums (Natural History) (Volume 19),pp. 225–304. Cape Provincial Museums, Grahamstown, South Africa.
  6. Olive, S., Prestianni, C. & Dupret, V., 2015: A new species of Groenlandaspis Heintz, 1932 (Placodermi, Arthrodira), from the Famennian (Late Devonian) of Belgium. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 35 (4): e935389. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2014.935389
  7. Janvier, P. and A. Ritchie. 1977. Le genre Groenlandaspis Heintz (Pisces,Placodermi, Arthrodira) dans le D6vonien d'Asie. Colloques Researches Academie des Sciences de Paris, series D, 284:1385-1388.
  8. Heintz, A., 1932: Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Devonischen Fischfaunen Ost-Grönlands. Skrifter om Svalbard og Ishavet, 42: 1–27.
  9. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 32. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
  10. Gess, Robert W.; Whitfield, Alan K. (August 22, 2020). "Estuarine fish and tetrapod evolution: insights from a Late Devonian (Famennian) Gondwanan estuarine lake and a southern African Holocene equivalent". Biological Reviews. 95 (4): 865–888. doi:10.1111/brv.12590 – via Wiley Online Library.
  11. Gess, Robert W.; Whitfield, Alan K. (August 22, 2020). "Estuarine fish and tetrapod evolution: insights from a Late Devonian (Famennian) Gondwanan estuarine lake and a southern African Holocene equivalent". Biological Reviews. 95 (4): 865–888. doi:10.1111/brv.12590 – via Wiley Online Library.
  12. GESS, R. W. & HILLER, N. (1995a). Late Devonian charophytes from the Witteberg Group, South Africa. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 89, 417–428.
  13. LONG, J.A., ANDERSON, M. E., GESS, R. W. & HILLER, N. (1997). New placoderm fishes from the Late Devonian of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 17, 253–268.
  14. GESS, R. W. & TRINAJSTIC, K. M. (2017). New morphological information on, and species of placoderm fish Africanaspis (Arthrodira, Placodermi) from the Late Devonian of South Africa. PLoS One 12(4), e0173169.
  15. LONG, J.A., ANDERSON, M. E., GESS, R. W. & HILLER, N. (1997). New placoderm fishes from the Late Devonian of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 17, 253–268.)
  16. Gess, Robert W. and Whitfield Alan K. (2020). "Estuarine fish and tetrapod evolution: Insights from a Late Devonian (Famennian) Gondwanan estuarine lake and a southern African Holocene equivalent". Biological Reviews. doi:10.1111/brv.12590. PMID 32059074
  17. Gess, Robert W. and Whitfield Alan K. (2020). "Estuarine fish and tetrapod evolution: Insights from a Late Devonian (Famennian) Gondwanan estuarine lake and a southern African Holocene equivalent". Biological Reviews. doi:10.1111/brv.12590. PMID 32059074
  18. Gess, Robert W. and Whitfield Alan K. (2020). "Estuarine fish and tetrapod evolution: Insights from a Late Devonian (Famennian) Gondwanan estuarine lake and a southern African Holocene equivalent". Biological Reviews. doi:10.1111/brv.12590. PMID 32059074
  19. Gess, Robert W. and Whitfield Alan K. (2020). "Estuarine fish and tetrapod evolution: Insights from a Late Devonian (Famennian) Gondwanan estuarine lake and a southern African Holocene equivalent". Biological Reviews. doi:10.1111/brv.12590. PMID 32059074
  20. LONG, J.A., ANDERSON, M. E., GESS, R. W. & HILLER, N. (1997). New placoderm fishes from the Late Devonian of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 17, 253–268.)


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