Chinese paleontologists have identified a new species of armored, jawless fish in rocks that are about 419 million years old. Its skull was shaped like a bat’s wings, and its unusual head allowed it to glide efficiently through the Devonian seas.
The core of Bataspis belongs to Galeaspidaa group of extinct jawless fish that lived only in what is now China and northern Vietnam during the Silurian and Devonian periods.
Galeaspids lie near the base of the vertebrate family tree and are important for understanding the origin of jawed animals.
“Galeaspids are an extinct group of jawless gnathostomes and one of the closest relatives of jawed vertebrates, so understanding their paleontology is critical to understanding the anatomical and ecological conditions in which modern jawed vertebrates arose,” said palaeontologist Philip Donoghue from the University of Bristol.
“Endemic from the Silurian and Devonian periods to modern-day China and North Vietnam, the fossil record of galeaspids was discovered late compared to other stylognathostome groups, so new species continue to be discovered at a rapid pace.”
“However, the majority of new species described in recent years have been classified into known morphotypes that have traditionally been interpreted as benthic or nektonic organisms, based on ecomorphological analogies with living jawed vertebrates.”
“Yet, galeaspids, like most sessile gnathostomes, lack reliable extant organisms that could help interpret their ecology.”
Through phylogenetic analysis, The core of Bataspis Within the family of galeaspids called Tridenthespiidaeas a close relative of the two previously known genera. Pterogonaspis and tridenthespis.
“Using parsimonious and probabilistic methods of phylogenetic estimation, we The core of Bataspis As a member of the family Tridenthespiidae within the order Eugaleaspiformes,” said the paleontologist.
The core of Bataspisholotype. Scale bar – 1 cm. Image credit: Men others., doi: 10.1111/pala.70081.
Fossilized remains are The core of Bataspis It was collected near Qujing in Yunnan Province, China in the 1980s.
“The specimen is preserved in fine-grained yellow-gray sandstone belonging to the Nishiyamamura Formation of the Early Lochkovian (Early Devonian),” the researchers said.
“All specimens are permanently kept in the collections of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and are accessible for testing.”
what to configure The core of Bataspis The difference is the shape of the head shield. Rather than the spikes, crests, or rounded domes typical of other galeaspids, this species boasted a pair of extensive membranous projections on the back of its skull.
To test what this headshield was actually for, scientists built a digital 3D model of the fish and ran computer simulations of water flow.
The result is a batwing-shaped head shield. The core of Bataspis This is the highest lift-to-drag ratio ever measured on a Galea speed.
Simulations suggest that the flow of water is accelerated on the curved top surface of a wing-like protrusion and moves more slowly on its flat bottom surface, generating lift by the same fundamental principle that allows airplane wings to fly.
“The core of Bataspis “This exceeds the range of phenotypic variation previously known in galeaspids,” the authors concluded.
“The unique morphological characteristics of this bat-like jawless fish result in a high lift-to-drag ratio at low angles of attack.”
“Our findings reveal the wide range of locomotor abilities available to galeaspids and other jawless gnathostomes and demonstrate that the lack of a flexible pair of fins is not a hindrance to ecological diversity.”
of findings appear in the diary paleontology.
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Meng Xinyuan others. 2026. The core of Bataspisa galeaspid (jawless stylgnathostome) from the Lochcoffidae family of Yunnan province, with a bat-wing-shaped head for hydrodynamic efficiency. paleontology 69 (4): e70081;doi: 10.1111/pala.70081
Source: www.sci.news
