Odontopleurida

Leonaspis burketti

Order Odontopleurida / Family Odontopleuridae

Pragian (Early Devonian)Morocco

Leonaspis burketti — photo 1 — Photo 1 · Holotype MnhnL QC440 (Morocco; Viersen et al., 2025)

Classification

Order Odontopleurida / Family Odontopleuridae

Genus

Leonaspis Richter & Richter, 1917

Genus author

Richter R. & Richter E.

Genus etymology

leon, leoninus, of a lion; -aspis, shield

Species

L. burketti Viersen, Lerouge & Kesselaer, 2025

Species author

Viersen A. P. van, Lerouge F., Kesselaer I

Species etymology

Burkett, Michael John Burkett, bassist and lead vocalist of the American band NOFX

Age

Pragian (Early Devonian)

Distribution

Morocco

Diagnosis

This species has a glabella very similar to Leonaspis chancellori, with the main differences: the shell surface has larger and fewer nodes, the anterior branches of the cephalic facial sutures converge slightly forward, the librigenal marginal spines and genal spines are longer, and the pygidial spines are stout and subequal in length.