Abstract
Pan, Z., Zhu, M., Zhu, Y. & Jia, L., August 2017. A new antiarch placoderm from the Emsian (Early Devonian) of Wuding, Yunnan, China. Alcheringa 42, 10–21. ISSN 0311-5518.
Wufengshania magniforaminis, a new genus and species of the Euantiarcha (Placodermi: Antiarcha), is described from the late Emsian (Early Devonian) of Wuding, Yunnan, southwestern China. The referred specimens were three-dimensionally preserved in black shales, allowing a high-resolution computed tomography reconstruction of anatomical details. The new euantiarch is characterized by a large orbital fenestra, an arched exoskeletal band around the orbital fenestra and a developed obtected nuchal area of the skull roof. Maximum parsimony analysis, using a revised data-set of antiarchs with 44 taxa and 66 characters, resolves Wufengshania gen. nov. as a member of the Bothriolepididae, which is characterized by the presence of the infraorbital sensory canal diverging on the lateral plate, and the nuchal plate with orbital facets. New analysis supports a sister group relationship between Dianolepis and the Bothriolepididae. Luquanolepis, a coeval euantiarch from the neighboring site of the new form, is referred to the Asterolepidoidei and represents the basalmost and earliest member of the Asterolepidoidei.
Zhaohui Pan* [[email protected]], Min Zhu* [[email protected]], You’an Zhu† [[email protected]] and Liantao Jia [[email protected]] Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 643, Beijing 100044, PR China. *Also affiliated with University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, PR China. †Also affiliated with Uppsala University, PO Box 256, 751 05 Uppsala, Sweden.
Acknowledgements
We thank W. J. Zhao, Z. K. Gai and Y. J. Wang, for discussions, and Y. M. Hou, for HRCT scanning.