Blieckaspis priscillae is a pteraspidid heterostracan agnathan from the Middle Devonian of North America.

Blieckaspis
Temporal range: Late Emsian
Artist's reconstruction
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Subclass:
Order:
Family:
Genus:
Blieckaspis

Elliot & Ilyes, 1996
Species:
B. priscillae

(Denison, 1953)
Synonyms
  • Protaspis priscillae Denison, 1953
  • Pteraspis priscillae (Denison, 1953) Denison, 1970
  • Errivaspis? priscillae (Denison, 1953) Blieck, 1984

Blieckaspis priscillae was originally described by Robert Denison from incomplete remains from Late Emsian-aged marine strata in Water Canyon, Utah, as a member of the genus Protaspis, naming it after one Priscilla Turnbull. As more, successively better preserved fossils were found, Denison later revised his findings and placed Protaspis priscillae into Pteraspis in 1970.

In 1984, Alain Blieck further revised P. priscillae's classification, and placed it tentatively into Errivaspis. In 1996, after studying even better preserved material found in Late Emsian-aged strata of the Lost Burro Formation in Death Valley, California,[1][2] Elliott & Ilyes erected a new genus, Blieckaspis, in honor of Blieck, for "P." priscillae.[3]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Death Valley National Park," Hunt, Santucci, and Kenworthy (2010); page 63.
  2. ^ Hunt, ReBecca K., Vincent L. Santucci and Jason Kenworthy. 2006. "A preliminary inventory of fossil fish from National Park Service units." in S.G. Lucas, J.A. Spielmann, P.M. Hester, J.P. Kenworthy, and V.L. Santucci (ed.s), Fossils from Federal Lands. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 34, pp. 63–69.
  3. ^ Elliott, David K., and Robert R. Ilyes. "New Early Devonian pteraspidids (Agnatha, Heterostraci) from Death Valley National Monument, southeastern California." Journal of Paleontology (1996): 152-161.