Meet Bataspis crux, Jawless Fish that Cruised Devonian Seas with Batwing Head
Paleontologists have identified a new species of jawless fish, Bataspis crux, which lived approximately 419 million years ago. The discovery provides new insights into the evolution of early vertebrates due to the creature's unique bat-like skull shape.
Why it matters
Understanding the anatomy of early stem-gnathostomes helps scientists map the evolutionary origins of jawed vertebrates, including humans.
Paleontologists in China have identified a new species of armored, jawless fish from rocks around 419 million years old whose skull was shaped like the wing of a bat and whose unusual head made it an efficient glider through Devonian seas.
Life reconstruction of Bataspis crux . Image credit: Dinghua Yang.
Bataspis crux belongs to Galeaspida , an extinct group of jawless fishes that lived only in what is now China and northern Vietnam during the Silurian and Devonian periods.
Galeaspids sit near the base of the vertebrate family tree, making them important for understanding the origins of jawed animals.
“Galeaspids are an extinct group of jawless stem-gnathostomes that are among the closest relatives of jawed vertebrates, and so an understanding of their paleobiology is crucial to elucidating the anatomical and ecological condition from which living jawed vertebrates arose,” said University of Bristol paleontologist Philip Donoghue and his colleagues.
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