Unique diversity of acanthothoracid placoderms (basal jawed vertebrates) in the Early Devonian of the Prague Basin, Czech Republic: A new look at Radotina and Holopetalichthys.

Abstract

The taxonomy of Early Devonian placoderm material from the Lochkovian and Pragian of the Prague basin, previously attributed to the genera Radotina and Holopetalichthys, is revised. The Pragian species Radotina tesselata Gross 1958 shares detailed similarities with the holotype of the Lochkovian Radotina kosorensis Gross 1950, which is also the holotype of the genus; the assignation of both species to Radotina is supported. However, the Lochkovian material previously attributed to Radotina kosorensis also contains two unrecognised taxa, distinguishable from Radotina at the generic level: these are here named Tlamaspis and Sudaspis. The disputed genus Holopetalichthys, synonymised with Radotina by some previous authors, is shown to be valid. Furthermore, whereas Radotina, Tlamaspis and Sudaspis can all be assigned to the group Acanthothoracii, on the basis of several features including possession of a projecting prenasal region of the endocranium, Holopetalichthys lacks such a region and is probably not an acanthothoracid. Skull roof patterns and other aspects of morphology vary greatly between these taxa. Radotina has a substantially tesselated skull roof, whereas the skull roofs of Tlamaspis and Holopetalichthys appear to lack tesserae altogether. Tlamaspis has an extremely elongated facial region and appears to lack a premedian plate. Sudaspis has a long prenasal region, but unlike Tlamaspis the postnasal face is not elongated. Past descriptions of the braincase of 'Radotina' and the skull roofs of 'Radotina' and 'Holopetalichthys' incorporate data from more than one taxon, giving rise to spurious characterisations including an apparently extreme degree of skull roof variability. These descriptions should all be disregarded.