Ailuracantha
Temporal range: Early Devonian
Artist's reconstruction of A. dorsofelis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Placodermi
Order: Arthrodira
Family: Actinolepidae
Genus: Ailuracantha
Species:
A. dorsifelis
Binomial name
Ailuracantha dorsifelis
White, 1969

Ailuracantha is a dubious extinct placoderm genus from the actinolepidae family. It was discovered in a layer of the Senni Beds near the Black Mountains in Wales, and it is represented by only one species: Ailuracantha dorsifelis.[1]

Etymology

The generic name Ailuracantha comes from the Greek αἴλουρος (aílouros), meaning "cat", and ἄκανθος (akanthos), meaning "spine" or "thorn"; the type species dorsifelis comes from the Latin dorsum, meaning "back," and felis, also meaning "cat." Both specific and generic names are in reference to The Cat’s Back, a spur of the Black Mountains and the locality the holotype was recovered from.

Paleobiology

Ailuracantha is relatively standard for an actinolepid, possessing a small, slightly dorsoventrally flattened body with two proportionally large spines on its thoracic shield. Unlike other members of this taxonomic group, its pectoral spines possess a narrow under surface and deep mesial surface, possibly suggesting greater mobility in them than observed in its relatives. Its frontal region is ornamented with small, oval-shaped tubercles, which are extremely fine on its ventral side.

Ailuracantha was a freshwater fish that lived in floodplain regions. It was probably a benthopelagic predator that fed on small, soft-bodied invertebrates.

References

  1. WHITE, ERROL I. (1 September 1969). "The deepest vertebrate fossil and other arctolepid fishes*". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 1 (3): 293–310. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1969.tb00122.x. Retrieved 30 July 2018.


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