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New species of the cyathaspidid Poraspis (Agnatha: Heterostraci) from the Late Silurian and Early Devonian of Northwest Territories, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

David K. Elliott
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Box 4099, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff 86011
Elizabeth J. Loeffler
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, England
Yuhai Liu
Affiliation:
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 643, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Abstract

Four new species of cyathaspidid extend the range of the genus Poraspis back into the Late Silurian and indicate that the Canadian arctic was its center of origin. Poraspis heintzae n. sp., P. cracens n. sp., P. thules n. sp. and P. parmula n. sp. also increase the known geographic range of the genus which had previously been reported only from the District of Mackenzie (NWT, Canada), Spitsbergen, western and eastern Europe. The identification of P. sericea from the upper member of the Peel Sound Formation substantiates correlation of this interval with the crouchi zone of the Anglo-Welsh Borders, and provides another rare example of a species common to the Canadian arctic and European successions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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