Galeaspida (from Latin, 'Helmet shields') is an extinct taxon of jawless marine and freshwater fish. The name is derived from galea, the Latin word for helmet, and refers to their massive bone shield on the head. Galeaspida lived in shallow, fresh water and marine environments during the Silurian and Devonian times (430 to 370 million years ago) in what is now Southern China, Tibet and Vietnam. Superficially, their morphology appears more similar to that of Heterostraci than Osteostraci, there being currently no evidence that the galeaspids had paired fins.[citation needed] A galeaspid Tujiaaspis vividus from the Silurian period of China was described in 2022 as having a precursor condition to the form of paired fins seen in Osteostraci and gnathostomes.[2] Earlier than this, Galeaspida were already in fact regarded as being more closely related to Osteostraci, based on the closer similarity of the morphology of the braincase.[citation needed]
Morphology
Reconstruction of Hayangaspis (left), Dayongaspis (middle), and Changxingaspis (right) Their mouth and gill openings are situated on the ventral surface of the head (top right). In the most primitive forms, such as the Silurian genus Hanyangaspis (top), the median dorsal inhalent opening is broad and situated anteriorly. In other galeaspids, it is more posterior in position and can be oval, rounded, heart-shaped or slit-shaped. In some Devonian galeaspids, such as the hunanaspidiformsLungmenshanaspis (middle) and Sanchaspis (bottom right), the headshield is produced laterally and anteriorly into slender processes. The eugaleaspidiforms, such as Eugaleaspis (bottom left) have a horseshoe-shaped headshield and a slit-shaped median dorsal opening, which imitates the aspect of the headshield of osteostracans.Headshield of NochelaspisHeadshield of Laxaspis
The defining characteristic of all galeaspids was a large opening on the dorsal surface of the head shield, which was connected to the pharynx and gill chamber, and a scalloped pattern of the sensory-lines.
The opening appears to have served both the olfaction and the intake of the respiratory water similar to the nasopharyngealduct of hagfishes.[3] Galeaspids are also the vertebrates which have the largest number of gills, as some species of the orderPolybranchiaspidida (literally "many gills shields") had up to 45 gill openings. The body is covered with minute scales arranged in oblique rows and there is no other fin besides the caudal fin. The mouth and gill openings are situated on the ventral side of the head, which is flat or flattened and suggests that they were bottom-dwellers.
Taxonomy
There are around 76 + described species of galeaspids in at least 53 genera.
Some experts demote Galeaspida to the rank of subclass, and unite it with Pituriaspida and Osteostraci to form the class Monorhina.
Fossil record
The oldest known galeaspids, such as those of the genera Hanyangaspis and Dayongaspis, first appear near the start of the Telychian age, of the latter half of the Llandovery epoch of the Silurian, about 436 million years ago. During the transition from the Llandovery to the Wenlock, the Eugaleaspids underwent a diversification event. By the time the Wenlock epoch transitioned into the Ludlow Epoch, all of the eugaleaspids, save for the Eugaleaspidae, were extinct. The Eugaleaspidae lived from the Wenlock, and were fairly long-lived, especially the genus Eugaleaspis. The last of the Eugaleaspididae disappeared by the end of the Pragian Epoch of the Lower Devonian.
The first genus of Geraspididae, the eponymous Geraspis, appears during the middle of the Telychian. The other genera of Polybranchiaspidida appear in the fossil record a little after the beginning of the Lochkovian Epoch, at the start of the Devonian. The vast majority of the supraorder's genera either date from the Pragian epoch, or have their ranges end there. By the time the Emsian epoch starts, only a few genera, such as Duyunolepis and Wumengshanaspis, survive, with most others already extinct. The last galeaspid is an as yet undescribed species and genus from the Fammenian epoch of the Late Devonian, found in association with the tetrapod Sinostega and the antiarchplacodermRemigolepis, in strata from the Northern Chinese province of Ningxia.
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