ABSTRACT
For over 70 million years, during the Paleozoic, the placoderms (Greek for 'plated skin'), an extinct group of armoured fishes, were the most abundant and diverse vertebrates on our planet. Some of the first placoderm fossils discovered - such as Bothriolepis with its bone-covered pectoral fins - seemed so bizarre that they were thought to represent turtles or ancient beetles. All placoderms bear thick overlapping dermal plates around the head (called the 'head shield') and an area of the body covered in similar overlapping plates enveloping the pectoral to anal region (called the 'trunk-shield'). Placoderm fossils (Figure 1) are known from every continent on Earth ranging from the early Silurian (â¼438 million years ago) to the end Devonian (â¼359 million years ago) when they became extinct.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Ursidae
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Besouros
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article