Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T15:56:01.249Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Early Devonian (Emsian) acanthodian faunas of the western USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Carole J. Burrow*
Affiliation:
Queensland Museum, Geology and Paleontology Annex, 122 Gerler Rd, Hendra, Queensland 4011, Australia

Abstract

Isolated spines and scales from acanthodian fishes are common elements in vertebrate assemblages from the Early Devonian (Emsian) of Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. The material described here is from the Sevy Dolomite and lower Grassy Flat Member, Water Canyon Formation, and includes one partially articulated specimen plus isolated fin spines and dermal plates of a new ?climatiid Sevyacanthus elliotti n. gen. and sp.; spines and shoulder girdle elements of a ?climatiid Nodocosta denisoni n. sp.; dentigerous jawbones from at least two ischnacanthiform taxa Ischnacanthus sp. and Cacheacanthus utahensis n. gen. and sp.; fin spines from a ?diplacanthiform Bryantonchus peracutus n. gen.; and scales of Ptychodictyon americanum n. sp. Most of the species appear endemic, although some show a close relationship with older Euramerican taxa (Ischnacanthus, Climatiidae sensu stricto) and younger Baltic taxa (Ptychodictyon rimosum, Nodocosta pauli).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agassiz, L. 1833–1843. Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles. 5 vols and atlas. Imprimerie Petitpierre, Neuchâtel, 1,420 p.Google Scholar
Agassiz, L. 1844–45. Monographie de Poissons Fossiles des Vieux Grès Rouges ou Système Dévonien (Old Red Sandstone) des Îles Britanniques et de Russie. Imprimerie de H. Nicolet, Neuchâtel, 171 p.Google Scholar
Berg, L. S. 1940. Classification of fishes both recent and fossil. Trudy Instituta Zoologi Akademii Nauk SSSR, 5:85517.Google Scholar
Bernacsek, G. M. and Dineley, D. L. 1977. New acanthodians from the Delorme Formation (Lower Devonian) of N.W.T., Canada. Palaeontographica A, 158:125.Google Scholar
Blieck, A. and Cloutier, R. (with contributions from Elliott, D. K., Goujet, D., Loboziak, S., Reed, R. C., Rodina, O., Steemans, P., Valiukevičius, J. J., V'Yushkova, L., Yolkin, E. A., and Young), V. T. 2000. Biostratigraphical correlations of Early Devonian vertebrate assemblages of the Old Red Sandstone Continent, p. 223269. In Blieck, A. and Turner, S. (eds.), Paleozoic Vertebrate Biochronology and Global Marine/Non Marine Correlation. Final Report IGCP 328, 1991–1996. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 223.Google Scholar
Branson, E. B. and Mehl, M. G. 1931. Fishes of the Jefferson Formation of Utah. Journal of Geology, 39:509531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, W. L. 1932. Lower Devonian fishes of Bear Tooth Butte, Wyoming. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 71:225254.Google Scholar
Bryant, W. L. 1933. The fish fauna of Beartooth Butte, Wyoming, Pt. I, The Heterostraci and Osteostraci. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 72:285314.Google Scholar
Bryant, W. L. 1934. The fish fauna of Beartooth Butte, Wyoming, Pts. II and III. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 73:127162.Google Scholar
Bryant, W. L. 1935. Cryptaspis and other Lower Devonian fossil fishes from Beartooth Butte, Wyoming. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 75:111128.Google Scholar
Burrow, C. J. 2004a. Acanthodians with dentigerous jaws: The Ischnacanthiformes and Acanthodopsis . Fossils and Strata, 50:822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrow, C. J. 2004b. A redescription of Atopacanthus dentatus Hussakof and Bryant 1918 (Acanthodii, Ischnacanthidae). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24(2):257267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrow, C. J. 2005. Lower Devonian acanthodians of the western USA. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25(3):41A.Google Scholar
Burrow, C. J., Lelièvre, H., and Janjou, D. 2006. Gnathostome microremains from the Lower Devonian Jawf Formation, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Paleontology, 80(3):537560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, B. 1907. Notes on acanthodian sharks. American Journal of Anatomy, 7:209222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1952. Early Devonian fishes from Utah, Pt. I, Osteostraci. Fieldiana Geology, 11:265287.Google Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1953. Early Devonian fishes from Utah, Pt. II, Heterostraci. Fieldiana Geology, 11:291355.Google Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1958. Early Devonian fishes from Utah. 3. Arthrodira. Fieldiana Geology, 11:459551.Google Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1960. Fishes of the Devonian Holland Quarry Shale of Ohio. Fieldiana Geology, 11:555613.Google Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1966. Cardipeltis, an Early Devonian agnathan of the Order Heterostraci. Fieldiana Geology, 16:89116.Google Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1967. A new Protaspis from the Devonian of Utah, with notes on the classification of Pteraspididae. Journal of the Linnean Society (Zoology), 47:3137.Google Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1968. Early Devonian lungfishes from Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho. Fieldiana Geology, 17:351413.Google Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1970. Revised classification of Pteraspididae with description of new forms from Wyoming. Fieldiana Geology, 20:141.Google Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1979. Acanthodii. Handbook of Paleoichthyology, Pt. 5, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 62 p.Google Scholar
Egerton, P. G. 1861. British fossils. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom (British Organic Remains), Decade 10:5175.Google Scholar
Elliott, D. K. 2005. Biogeographic implications of Early Devonian heterostracans from the western United States. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25(3):53A.Google Scholar
Elliott, D. K. and Ilyes, R. R. 1996. Lower Devonian vertebrate biostratigraphy of the western United States. Modern Geology, 20:253262.Google Scholar
Elliott, D. K. and Johnson, H. G. 1997. Use of vertebrates to solve biostratigraphic problems: Examples from the Lower and Middle Devonian of western North America, p. 179188. In Klapper, G., Murphy, M. A., and Talent, J. A. (eds.), Paleozoic Sequence Stratigraphy, Biostratigraphy, and Biogeography: Studies in Honor of J. Granville (“Jess”) Johnson. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 321.Google Scholar
Forey, P. L., Young, V. T., and McClure, H. A. 1992. Lower Devonian fishes from Saudi Arabia. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geology, 48:2543.Google Scholar
Gagnier, P.-Y. and Wilson, M. V. H. 1995. New evidences on jawbones and jaw articulations in acanthodians. Geobios, Memoir Spécial 19:137143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gagnier, P.-Y. and Wilson, M. V. H. 1996a. An unusual acanthodian from northern Canada: Revision of Brochoadmones milesi . Modern Geology, 20:235251.Google Scholar
Gagnier, P.-Y. and Wilson, M. V. H. 1996b. Early Devonian acanthodians from northern Canada. Palaeontology, 39:241258.Google Scholar
Gross, W. 1933. Die Fische des Baltischen Devons. Palaeontographica A, 79:174.Google Scholar
Gross, W. 1940. Acanthodier und Placodermen aus den Heterostius-Schichten Estlands und Lettlands. Annales Societatis rebus naturae investigandis in Universitate Tartuensi constitutae, 46:1299.Google Scholar
Gross, W. 1973. Kleinschuppen, Flossenstacheln und Zähne von Fischen aus europäischen und nordamerikanischen Bonebeds des Devons. Palaeontographica A, 142:51155.Google Scholar
Hairapetian, V., Valiukevičius, J., and Burrow, C. 2006. Late Devonian (early Frasnian) acanthodians from central Iran. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 51(3):499520.Google Scholar
Hanke, G. F. and Wilson, M. V. H. 2004. New teleostome fishes and acanthodian systematics, p. 189216. In Arratia, G., Wilson, M. V. H., and Cloutier, R. (eds.), Recent Advances in the Origin and Early Radiation of Vertebrates. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich.Google Scholar
Hanke, G. F., Davis, S. P., and Wilson, M. V. H. 2001. New species of the acanthodian genus Tetanopsyrus from northern Canada, and comments on related taxa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 21(4):740753.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermus, C. and Wilson, M. V. H. 2001. Early Devonian ischnacanthid acanthodians from the Northwest Territories of Canada. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 21(3, Supplement):61A.Google Scholar
Hussakof, L. and Bryant, W. L. 1918. Catalog of the fossil fishes in the Museum of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, 12, 346 p.Google Scholar
Janvier, P. 1977. Les poissons dévoniens de l'Iran central et de l'Afghanistan. Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France, 8:277289.Google Scholar
Janvier, P. 1996. Early Vertebrates. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 393 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeppsson, L., Arnehus, R., and Fredholm, D. 1999. The optimal acetate buffered acetic acid technique for extracting phosphatic fossils. Journal of Paleontology, 73(5):964972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyarskaya, L. 1978. The Rezekne Formation and its age correlatives, p. 2239. In Sorokin, V. S. (ed.), The Stratigraphy of the Phanerozoic in the Baltic. Zinatne, Riga. (In Russian) Google Scholar
Maisey, J. G. 1981. Studies on the Paleozoic selachian genus Ctenacanthus Agassiz. 1. Historical review and revised diagnosis of Ctenacanthus, with a list of referred taxa. American Museum Novitates, 2718:122.Google Scholar
Mark-Kurik, E. 1985. Actinolepis spinosa n. sp. (Arthrodira) from the Early Devonian of Latvia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 5:287292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miles, R. S. 1966. The acanthodian fishes of the Devonian Plattenkalk of the Paffrath Trough in the Rhineland. Arkiv för Zoologi, 18(9):147194.Google Scholar
Miles, R. S. 1973. Articulated acanthodian fishes from the Old Red Sandstone of England, with a review of the structure and evolution of the acanthodian shoulder-girdle. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, 24:113213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, R. F., Cloutier, R., and Turner, S. 2003. The oldest articulated chondrichthyan from the Early Devonian period. Nature, 425:501504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moy-Thomas, J. A. and Miles, R. S. 1971. Paleozoic Fishes. Chapman and Hall, London, 259 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newberry, J. S. 1857. Fossil fishes from the Devonian rocks of Ohio. Proceedings of the National Institute, 1:119126.Google Scholar
Newberry, J. S. 1884. Ctenacanthus wrighti n. sp. Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the New York State Museum of Natural History, 206 p.Google Scholar
Newton, E. T. 1892. Note on a new species of Onychodus from the Lower Old Red Sandstone of Forfar. Geological Magazine, Decade III, 9:5152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novitskaya, L. J. and Obruchev, D. V. 1967. Class Acanthodei, p. 263291. In Obruchev, D. V. (ed. 1964), Fundamentals of Palaeontology. Volume 11. Israel Program for Scientific Translation, Jerusalem. (English translation from Russian) Google Scholar
Ørvig, T. 1967. Some new acanthodian material from the Lower Devonian of Europe. Journal of the Linnean Society (Zoology), 47:131153.Google Scholar
Ørvig, T. 1973. Acanthodian dentition and its bearing on the relationships of the group. Palaeontographica Abt. A, 143:119150.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1846. Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the Vertebrate Animals Delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, England in 1844 and 1846, Pt. I, Fishes. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 308 p.Google Scholar
Page, D. 1859. Farther contributions to the palaeontology of the Tilestones or Silurio–Devonian strata of Scotland. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Leeds 28(2):104105 (1858).Google Scholar
Pageau, Y. 1969. Nouvelle faune ichthyologique du Dévonien Moyen dans les Grès de Gaspé (Québec). II. Morphologie et systématique. Première section: A. Euryptérides, B. Ostracodermes, C. Acanthodiens et Sélaciens. Le Naturaliste Canadien, 96:14591497.Google Scholar
Paton, R. L. 1976. A catalogue of fossil vertebrates in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. Part Five. Acanthodii. Royal Scottish Museum Information Series, Geology, 6:140.Google Scholar
Powrie, J. 1864. On the fossiliferous rocks of Forfarshire and their contents. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 20:413429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powrie, J. 1870. On the earliest known vestiges of vertebrate life; being a description of the fish remains of the Old Red Sandstone rocks of Forfarshire. Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society, 1(3):284301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spjeldnaes, N. 1967. Acanthodians from the Siluro–Devonian of Ellesmere Island, p. 807813. In Oswald, D. H. (ed.), International Symposium on the Devonian System, II. Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary.Google Scholar
Stauffer, C. R. 1938. The conodonts of the Olentangy Shale. Journal of Paleontology, 12:411433.Google Scholar
Traquair, R. H. 1890. Notes on the Devonian fishes of Scaumenac Bay and Campbelltown, in Canada. The Geological Magazine, 3:1522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traquair, R. H. 1898. Notes on Paleozoic fishes. No. II. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, II, ser. 7:6770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, S. 1991. Paleozoic vertebrate microfossils in Australasia, p. 429464. In Vickers-Rich, P., Monaghan, J. M., Baird, R. F., and Rich, T. H. (eds.), Vertebrate Palaeontology of Australasia. Pioneer Design Studio, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Turner, S. and Murphy, M. A. 1988. Early Devonian vertebrate microfossils from the Simpson Park Range, Eureka County, Nevada. Journal of Paleontology, 62:959964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, S., Burrow, C. J., and Warren, A. 2005. Gyracanthides hawkinsi sp. nov. (Acanthodii, Gyracanthidae) from the Lower Carboniferous of Queensland, Australia, with a review of gyracanthid taxa. Palaeontology, 48(5):9631006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Upeniece, I. 1996. Lodeacanthus gaugicus n. g. et sp. (Acanthodii: Mesacanthidae) from the Late Devonian of Latvia. Modern Geology, 20:383398.Google Scholar
Valiukevičius, J. J. 1979. Acanthodian scales from the Eifelian of Spitsbergen. Palaeontological Journal, 4:101111.Google Scholar
Valiukevičius, J. J. 1985. Acanthodians from the Narva Regional Stage of the Main Devonian Field. Mokslas, Vilnius, 144 p. (In Russian with English summary) Google Scholar
Valiukevičius, J. J. and Kruchek, S. 2000. Acanthodian biostratigraphy and interrregional correlations of the Devonian of the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, p. 271289. In Blieck, A. and Turner, S. (eds.), Paleozoic Vertebrate Biochronology and Global Marine/Non Marine Correlation, Final Report IGCP 328, 1991–1996. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 223.Google Scholar
Valiukevičius, J. J. and Karatajūte-Talimaa, V. N. 1986. Acanthodian scale assemblage from the base of the Middle Devonian of the Baltic and Byelorussia, p. 110122. In Brangulis, A. P. (ed.), Biofacies and Fauna of the Silurian and Devonian Basins of the Baltic region. Zinatne, Riga. (In Russian) Google Scholar
Vieth, J. 1980. Thelodontier-, Akanthodier- und Elasmobranchier-Schuppen aus dem Unter-Devon der Kanadischen Arktis (Agnatha, Pisces). Göttinger Arbeiten Geologie und Paläontologie, 23:169.Google Scholar
Warren, A., Currie, B. P., Burrow, C. J., and Turner, S. 2000. A redescription and reinterpretation of Gyracanthides murrayi Woodward 1906 (Acanthodii, Gyracanthidae) from the Lower Carboniferous of the Mansfield Basin, Victoria, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20:225242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D. M. S. 1937. The acanthodian fishes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B), 228:49146.Google Scholar
Wells, J. W. 1944. Fish remains from the Middle Devonian Bone Beds of the Cincinnati Arch region. Palaeontographica Americana, 3:99160.Google Scholar
White, E. I. 1961. The Old Red Sandstone of Brown Clee Hill and the adjacent area, II. Stratigraphy. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, 5:243310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whiteaves, J. 1881. On some fossil fishes, Crustacea, and Mollusca from the Devonian rocks at Campbelltown, N. B., with descriptions of five new species. Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, 10:93101.Google Scholar
Whiteaves, J. F. 1889. Illustrations of the fossil fishes of the Devonian rocks of Canada, Pt. II, Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 6:7796.Google Scholar
Woodward, A. S. 1891. Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History). Pt. II, British Museum (Natural History), 567 p.Google Scholar
Woodward, A. S. 1892. On the Lower Devonian fish-fauna of Campbellton, New Brunswick. The Geological Magazine, Decade 3, n. s., 9:16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, A. S. 1906. On a Carboniferous fish fauna from the Mansfield district, Victoria. Memoirs of the National Museum, Melbourne, 1:132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, A. S. 1915. The use of fossil fishes in stratigraphical geology. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 71(1):4246.Google Scholar
Young, G. C. and Burrow, C. J. 2004. Diplacanthid acanthodians from the Aztec Siltstone (late Middle Devonian) of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Fossils and Strata, 50:2343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar