Phyllolepis
| Phyllolepis Temporal range: Famennian 380–360 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | †Placodermi |
| Order: | †Arthrodira |
| Suborder: | † Phyllolepida |
| Family: | †Phyllolepididae |
| Genus: |
†Phyllolepis Agassiz 1844 |
| Type species | |
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Phyllolepis concentrica Agassiz 1844 |
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| Species | |
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P. delicatula 1880 |
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P. delicatula 1880
P. woodwardi Woodward, 1915
P. oryini Heintz, 1930
P. soederberghi Sensiö, 1936
P. nielseni Sensiö, 1939
P. undulata
P. konincki
P. neilseni
P. thomsoni
P. rossimontina Land and Cuffey, 2005
Phyllolepis (from the Greek roots for ‘leaf’ and ‘scale’) is the type genus of Phyllolepida, an extinct taxon of arthrodire placoderm fish from the middle to late Devonian. The species of Phyllolepis, themselves, are restricted to the Famennian-aged freshwater strata of the Late Devonian, around 360 million years ago. Fossils of this genus have been found primarily in Europe and North America. The end of the Devonian saw them disappear in a mass extinction.
Phyllolepis lived in freshwater environments, possibly rivers and streams. As with all other known phyllolepids, Phyllolepis were presumed to have been blind, bottom-dwelling predators that detected prey through sensory organs in the surface grooves of their armor plates (which gave their plates a distinctive "wooden surface" appearance).
Phyllolepis, as was typical of Phyllolepida, tended to be 30 to 40 cm in length and very flat.Phyllolepis have extensive armor made of full, flat plates, rather than scales, with both a wide jaw and mouth. They are characterized by a broad, enlarged nuchal plate paired with four small plates around the upper jaw. They have short and broad anterior ventrolateral plates, as well as paranuchal plates with postnuchal process. They also feature long, narrow anterior dorsolateral plates and a dermal ornamentation of smooth, concentric rings upon their plates.
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