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| Weejasperaspididae Temporal range:Emsian | |
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| Weejasperaspis gavini,Murrindalaspis wallacei &Brindabellaspis stensioi | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | †Placodermi |
| Order: | †Acanthothoraci |
| Family: | †Weejasperaspididae |
| Genera | |
Weejasperaspididae ("Shields ofWee Jasper") is afamily of threeextinctacanthothoracidplacoderms indigenous to the EarlyDevonian ofVictoria andNew South Wales,Australia.
The Weejasperaspids are known from median dorsal plates with distinctive, blade-like crests in the median-posterior portion, and ossified eye capsules.
The main reasons why the weejasperaspids are not considered to be closely related to other non-acanthothoracid placoderms, as opposed to thepalaeacanthaspids, are that theirskull anatomies and plate histologies are generalized, and do not bear any similarities to any specific non-acanthothoracid group, and that the patterns of ornamentation on their dermal plates are unique to this family.
The placodermBrindabellaspis stensioi was once regarded as a weejasperaspid because of the similarities between its dermal plates to the other weejasperaspids. Even before it was split off into its own order, it stood out from the others because of its long, pointed snout. French paleontologist Phillipe Janvier placedB. stensioi in its own order,Brindabellaspida, because of how the internal anatomy of the braincase resembled more like those ofosteostracans orgaleaspids than those of other placoderms.
Mikko's Phylogeny Archive[1]Archived 27 September 2006 at theWayback Machine
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