Placoderm Assemblage from the Tetrapod-Bearing Locality of Strud

The placoderm fauna of the upper Famennian tetrapod-bearing locality of Strud, Belgium, includes the antiarch Grossilepis rikiki, the arthrodire groenlandaspidid Turrisaspis strudensis and the phyllolepidid Phyllolepis undulata. Based on morphological and morphometric evidence, the placoderm specime...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2016-08, Vol.11 (8), p.e0161540
Main Authors: Olive, Sébastien, Clément, Gaël, Daeschler, Edward B, Dupret, Vincent
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Devonian period
Genetic aspects
Natural history
Placoderms
Prehistoric tetrapods
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The placoderm fauna of the upper Famennian tetrapod-bearing locality of Strud, Belgium, includes the antiarch Grossilepis rikiki, the arthrodire groenlandaspidid Turrisaspis strudensis and the phyllolepidid Phyllolepis undulata. Based on morphological and morphometric evidence, the placoderm specimens from Strud are predominantly recognised as immature specimens and this locality as representing a placoderm nursery. The Strud depositional environment corresponds to a channel in an alluvial plain, and the presence of a nursery in such environment could have provided nutrients and protection to the placoderm offspring. This represents one of the earliest pieces of evidence for this sort of habitat partitioning in vertebrate history, with adults living more distantly from the nursery and using the nursery only to spawn or give live birth.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0161540