Qataraspis

{{Short description|Extinct genus of primitive arthrodire placoderm}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Late Devonian}}

| image = Qataraspis_holotype.png

| image_caption = NHMUK PV P41933 (left) and NHMUK PV P41934 (right)

| taxon = Qataraspis

| authority = White, 1969

| type_species = {{extinct}}Qataraspis deprofundis

| type_species_authority = White, 1969

}}

Qataraspis{{cite web|title=Qataraspis|url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=34381|publisher=Fossilworks|access-date=24 January 2023}} (meaning "Qatar shield") is an extinct genus of primitive arthrodire placoderm that lived sometime around the Late Devonian in what is now Qatar.Denison, R. (1978). Placodermi. In H.-P. Schultze (ed.), Handbook of Palaeoichthyology 2:1-128 The type species is Q. deprofundis.

Discovery and naming

The holotype, NHMUK PV P41933 and NHMUK PV P41934 (an almost complete right anterior lateral plate), was discovered during the 1950s by the Iraq Petroleum Company within the {{convert|4.5|in|cm}} wide borehole DK 68 at a depth of {{convert|3828|m|ft}}, making it the deepest known occurrence of a fossil vertebrate to date.White, E.I. (1969). The deepest vertebrate fossil and other arctolepid fishes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 1(3): 293-310 The holotype was sent to England to be studied and Qataraspis deprofundis was named and described by White (1969).

Casts of the holotype also exist, under specimen numbers PV P 75116 and PV P 75117.Natural History Museum (2014). Collection specimens [Data set]. Natural History Museum. https://doi.org/10.5519/0002965

Classification

White (1969) classified Qataraspis as a basal member of the Arthrodira. This classification was followed through by Denison (1978) in a review of the Placodermi, where it was placed in the Arctolepididae.

References

Category:Late Devonian first appearances

Category:Late Devonian animals

Category:Fossil taxa described in 1969