A novel specimen-based mid-Paleozoic dataset of antiarch placoderms (the most basal jawed vertebrates)

Abstract

Antiarcha data are essential to quantitative studies of basal jawed vertebrates. The absence of structured data on key groups of early vertebrates, such as Antiarcha, has lagged in understanding their diversity and distribution patterns. Previous works of early vertebrates usually focused on anatomy and phylogeny, given their significant impacts on the evolution of key characters, but lacked comprehensive structured data. Here, we contribute an unprecedented open-access Antiarcha dataset covering 60 genera of 6025 specimens from the Ludfordian to the Famennian globally. We have organized an expert team to collect and curate 142 publications spanning from 1939 to 2021. Additionally, we have two-stage quality controls in the process: domain experts examined the literature and senior experts reviewed the results. In this paper, we give details of the data storage structure and visualize these antiarch fossil sites on the paleogeographic map. The novel Antiarcha dataset has tremendous research potential, including testing previous qualitative hypotheses in biodiversity changes, spatiotemporal distribution, evolution, and community composition. It is now an essential part of the DeepBone database and will be updated with the latest publication, also available on https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6536446 (Pan and Zhu, 2021).