Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 July 2016
A single specimen of a new species of the chasmataspidid Diploaspis Størmer, 1972 is described from the upper Silurian (Pridoli) Phelps Member of the Fiddlers Green Formation (Bertie Group) in Herkimer County, New York State, USA. Diploaspis praecursor sp. nov. is distinguished by the shape of the posterolateral margins of the buckler, which are drawn out into angular epimera, and by the lack of elongate tubercles on the postabdomen. This discovery increases the taxonomic diversity of the Bertie Group by extending the geographic extent of Diploaspididae into North America. D. praecursor pre-dates previously known species of Diploaspis by more than 10 million years.
Current address: Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA