Odontopleurida

Leonaspis guangxiensis

Order Odontopleurida / Family Odontopleuridae

Eifelian (Middle Devonian)Guangxi

Leonaspis guangxiensis — photo 1 — Photo 1 · Type specimen (Guangxi; Zhou Tianmei Restoration 1977) (illustrated by Haixiang) Exuvia specimen (Guangxi; Han Nairen et al. 2006)

Leonaspis guangxiensis — photo 2 — Photo 2 · Type specimen (Guangxi; Zhou Tianmei Restoration 1977) (illustrated by Haixiang) Exuvia specimen (Guangxi; Han Nairen et al. 2006)

Leonaspis guangxiensis — photo 3 — Photo 3 · Type specimen (Guangxi; Zhou Tianmei Restoration 1977) (illustrated by Haixiang) Exuvia specimen (Guangxi; Han Nairen et al. 2006)

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. guangxiensis Zhou, 1977

Species author

Zhou Tianmei

Species etymology

Guangxi, Guangxi Province, the collecting locality

Age

Eifelian (Middle Devonian)

Distribution

Guangxi

Diagnosis

Dorsal shield broad-elliptical apart from spines; surface nodose, nodes abundant on the cephalon and sparse on the thorax and pygidium. Cephalon wide, semi-elliptical; glabella short, median lobe strongly convex and cylindrical, two pairs of lateral glabellar furrows dividing the glabella into two pairs of unequal lateral lobes; occipital ring wide; eye ridges long; eyes small; fixigenae narrow; librigenae wide and large with small marginal spines and extremely long genal spines. Thorax of 9 segments; axis narrow; pleurae wide, straight, with a median ridge and extremely long pleural spines. Pygidium wide, of two rings; a coarse pleural ridge connected to the first axial ring extending straight backward into a pair of relatively stout main spines, between which a pair of short small spines, and 4 small spines on each side.