On the Discovery ofBothriolepisin the Devonian of Central Hunan^*

Abstract

A new species of Antiarchi, Bothriolepis sinensis Chi (sp. Nov.), was discovered from the Upper (?) Devonian purple shale of Nanmuchung, near Tiaomachien, southeast of the city of Changsha in central Hunan. Besides a detailed palæontological description of the fish, discussions on its stratigraphical position, and on the age of the fossil plants collected from beds eight meters below the Bothriolepis‐bed are given. This is the first Devonian Antiarch definitely recorded from the continent of Asia (vide P.S. on p.71).

The Bothriolepis (Placodermi, Antiarcha) material from the Valentia Slate Formation of the Iveragh Peninsula (middle Givetian, Ireland): Morphology, evolutionary and systematic considerations, phylogenetic and palaeogeographic implications

“…yunnanensis , and Bothriolepis sp. occur in the southern palaeoblock in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong [ 30 , 60 , 70 , 94 , 95 ], as is the Bothriolepididae Dianolepis liui in Yunnan [ 61 , 70 ]; the latter species is also encountered in the Givetian of Yunnan [ 96 ], although not listed as such by Zhu who considers the species present only in the Eifelian of the Haikou and Wuding Formations ([ 70 ]:378) (S4 Fig in S1 File ).…”

“…Bothriolepis sinensis , although initially considered, proved to be too poorly preserved and was removed at an early stage of the study (see [ 30 ]).…”

“…The Eifelian record of the genus Bothriolepis is restricted to the Chinese palaeoblocks: B. niushoushanensis is encountered in the north in Ningxia [70,93], while B. shaokuanensis, B. sinensis, B. tungseni, B. yunnanensis, and Bothriolepis sp. occur in the southern palaeoblock in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong [30,60,70,94,95], as is the Bothriolepididae Dianolepis liui in Yunnan [61,70]; the latter species is also encountered in the Givetian of Yunnan [96] [25,99,100], but also in eastern Australia with B. longi, B. bindarei, B. tatongensis, the latter possibly belonging to early Frasnian [19,26,45]. Bothriolepis babichevi and B. kassini occur in the Konyr Formation of central Kazakhstan, which corresponds to the end of Givetian or early Frasnian [62,87,101,102].The earliest evidence of Bothriolepis in Euramerica comes from the mid-Givetian Valentia Slate Formation in Ireland, described in the present article.…”