| Arandaspis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fossil ofArandaspis prionotolepis fromNatural History Museum in London | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Infraphylum: | Agnatha |
| Class: | †Pteraspidomorpha |
| Order: | †Arandaspidiformes |
| Family: | †Arandaspididae |
| Genus: | †Arandaspis Ritchie & Gilbert-Tomlinson, 1977 |
| Type species | |
| †Arandaspis prionotolepis Ritchie & Gilbert-Tomlinson, 1977 | |
| Species[1] | |
| |
Arandaspis prionotolepis is anextinctspecies ofjawless fish that lived in theOrdovician period, about 480 to 470 million years ago. Its remains were found in theStairway Sandstone nearAlice Springs,Australia in 1959, but it was not determined that they were the oldest known vertebrates until the late 1960s.Arandaspis is named after a localIndigenous Australian people, the Aranda (now currently calledArrernte).
Arandaspis is estimated to reach around 12–14 cm (5–6 in) long, with a body covered in rows of knobbly armouredscutes. The front of the body and the head were protected by hard plates with openings for the eyes, nostrils andgills. It probably was afilter-feeder. Morphology of trunk and tail is unknown.[2] According to comparison with other earlyostracoderms, it would lacked paired fins andcaudal fin would be simple shape,[2] although another arandaspidSacabambaspis had the tail that consist dorsal and ventral webs and an elongated notochordal lobe.[3]
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