Palaeospondylus

Palaeospondylus
Temporal range: Middle Devonian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Genus: Palaeospondylus

Palaeospondylus gunni ("Gunn's Ancient Vertebrae") is a mysterious, fish-like fossil vertebrate. Its fossils are described from Achanarras slate quarry in Caithness, Scotland.

The fossil as preserved is carbonized, and indicates an eel-shaped animal of up to 6 centimetres (2 in) in length. The skull, which must have consisted of hardened cartilage, exhibits pairs of nasal and auditory capsules, with a gill-apparatus below its hinder part, but no indications of ordinary jaws.

The phylogeny of this bizarre fossil has puzzled scientists since its discovery in 1890, and many taxonomies have been suggested. In 2004, researchers proposed that Palaeospondylus was a larval lungfish.[1] Previously it had been classified as a larval tetrapod, unarmored placoderm, an agnathan, and a chimera.[2] The most recent suggestion is that it is a primitive hagfish.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Thomson, K.S. (2004). "A Palaeontological Puzzle Solved?". American Scientist. 92: 209. doi:10.1511/2004.3.209.
  2. ↑ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 33. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
  3. ↑ Hirasawa, T; Oisi, Y; Kuratani, S (2016). "Palaeospondylus as a primitive hagfish". Zoological Lett. 2: 20. doi:10.1186/s40851-016-0057-0. PMC 5015246. PMID 27610240.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Palaeospondylus". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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