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A new large-bodied species of Bothriolepis (Antiarchi) from the Upper Devonian of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada
Journal article   Peer reviewed

A new large-bodied species of Bothriolepis (Antiarchi) from the Upper Devonian of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

Jason P. Downs, Edward B. Daeschler, Valentina E. Garcia and Neil H. Shubin
Journal of vertebrate paleontology, v 36(6), pe1221833
Nov 2016

Abstract

Antiarchi biogeography biometry Bothriolepididae Bothriolepis rex Canada Chordata Devonian Ellesmere Island fish Frasnian morphology new taxa Nordstrand Point Formation Nunavut Okse Bay paleoecology Paleozoic Placodermi Queen Elizabeth Islands size taxonomy Upper Devonian Vertebrata Vertebrate paleontology
New material from the Upper Devonian (Frasnian) Nordstrand Point Formation of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, represents the largest known species of antiarch and the first described from the Nordstrand Point Formation. Bothriolepis rex, sp. nov., is additionally remarkable for the thickness and compactness of its dermal skeletal plates. The new species is diagnosed by a preorbital recess with a horizontal rostral margin; the presence of a wide unornamented border surrounding the infraorbital sensory line; central sensory lines that meet the margin of the nuchal close to the lateral corners; a supraotic thickening that does not extend caudal to a transverse crista of the nuchal; and a tall lateral lamina of the anterior dorsolateral. The thick and compact armor of Bothriolepis rex, sp. nov., recalls that of the co-occurring Perscheia pulla and gives occasion to a physical and ecological review of dermal skeletal mass and density in large-bodied, bottom-dwelling organisms in nonmarine ecosystems during the Late Devonian.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Paleontology
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