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Cyathaspis

Cyathaspis
Temporal range: Wenlock to Ludlow
Cyathaspis banksii.jpg
Reconstruction of C. banksii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Pteraspidomorphi
Order: Cyathaspidiformes
Family: Cyathaspidae
Genus: Cyathaspis
Lankester
Type species
Pteraspis banksii
Huxley and Salter, 1856
Species
  • C. banksii (Huxley and Salter 1856)
  • C. lindstromi Kiaer and Heintz, 1935
  • C. ludensis

Cyathaspis is the type genus of the heterostracan order Cyathaspidiformes. Species are found in late Silurian strata in Europe, especially in Great Britain and Gotland, Sweden. The living animal would have looked superficially like a tadpole, albeit covered in bony plates composed of the tissue aspidine, which is unique to heterostracan armor.

Cyathaspis ludensis is the earliest British vertebrate fossil. It was found in rocks at Leintwardine in Herefordshire, a noted fossil locality.


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