Asioaspis

Article summary

Asioaspis is an extinct genus of polybranchiaspiform galeaspid jawless fish from Yunnan, China and is the only genus in the monotypic family Asioaspidae. Its fossils are only known from the Xishancun Formation, the fossils dating back to the Early Devonian. One of the most notable features of the fish is the presence of a pair of projecting cornual processes that extend laterally away from the headshield. Asioaspis has a mosaic of features that place it as one of the most basal Polybranchiaspiformes, with it being between the early family Gumuaspidae and all other members of the order. Though it has the wide head shield closer to what is seen in the most basal members of the order, features of the shield suggest that the fish would have had an epibenthic lifestyle more like later members. Only one species is assigned to the genus: A. brachyotus.

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