Shimenolepis

{{Italic title}}

{{Taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Ludfordian|earliest=Llandovery}}

| image = Shimenolepis granifera.jpg

| image_caption = Shimenolepis granifera

| regnum = Animalia

| phylum = Chordata

| classis = Placodermi

| ordo = Yunnanolepiformes

| genus = Shimenolepis

| type_species = Shimenolepis granifera

| type_species_authority = Junqing, 1991

}}

Shimenolepis granifera is an extinct yunnanolepid placoderm from the Xiaoxi Formation, Li County, Hunan, China. Its age is discussed, while originally considered as late Llandovery, it is later considered to belong to the Ludlow Epoch instead.{{Cite journal |last1=Pan |first1=Zhaohui |last2=Niu |first2=Zhibin |last3=Xian |first3=Zumin |last4=Zhu |first4=Min |date=2023-01-03 |title=A novel specimen-based mid-Paleozoic dataset of antiarch placoderms (the most basal jawed vertebrates) |url=https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/41/2023/ |journal=Earth System Science Data |language=English |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=41–51 |doi=10.5194/essd-15-41-2023 |issn=1866-3508 |doi-access=free }} It was the first described Silurian placoderm, and was the earliest known placoderm until Xiushanosteus was described,{{Cite journal |last1=Zhu |first1=You-an |last2=Li |first2=Qiang |last3=Lu |first3=Jing |last4=Chen |first4=Yang |last5=Wang |first5=Jianhua |last6=Gai |first6=Zhikun |last7=Zhao |first7=Wenjin |last8=Wei |first8=Guangbiao |last9=Yu |first9=Yilun |last10=Ahlberg |first10=Per E. |last11=Zhu |first11=Min |date=2022-09-01 |title=The oldest complete jawed vertebrates from the early Silurian of China |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022Natur.609..954Z |journal=Nature |volume=609 |issue=7929 |pages=954–958 |doi=10.1038/s41586-022-05136-8 |bibcode=2022Natur.609..954Z |issn=0028-0836}} known from distinctively ordered plates.