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Hey #ScienceTwitter and #SciComm people, it's time for another episode of Aura Gushes Over Placoderms. Today's segment was inspired by a question my dear friend @Geeky_dino asked. Without further ado, I present to you a basic short thread on #Bothriolepis! For more info, DM me!
#Bothriolepis is one of the most varied genus of the antiarch placoderms, with more than 100 described species, and fossil presence in every continent. They lived between the Givetian to Fammenian stages of the Devonian, and they seem to have spent most of their life in >
< fresh water lakes and rivers, though some species have been found in reef deposits from the late Devonian, indicating that a few were marine. This might explain and gives logic to their world-wide presence. There have been suggestions and theories that state that >
< our friend Bothriolepis might have migrated between ecosystems [which would thus explain their presence in both, as well as their global distribution] but these are yet to be confirmed.
Their anatomy is fascinating, but today I'm only gonna briefly describe >
Their anatomy is fascinating, but today I'm only gonna briefly describe >
< the dermal skeleton, which is sectioned in three layers: the superficial lamellar layer, cancellous spongiosa and a basal lamellar layer. The superficial layer is theorized to have had denticles which might have been made of cellular bone. >
< The feeding habits of the Bothriolepis couldn't have been too different from any other antiarch, which means they most likely fed by aspiring mouthfuls of soft sediment in order to consume organic matter like microorganisms, algae, so on and so forth. Because the >
< mouth is positioned on the ventral side of its head, we are inclined to believe that they were bottom feeders.
Something particularly interesting about them is that not only did they have gills, but there is too evidence of pouches that were connecter to the oesophagus, >
Something particularly interesting about them is that not only did they have gills, but there is too evidence of pouches that were connecter to the oesophagus, >
< which paleontologists believe may have been rudimentary lungs that, much like with a handful of modern species of fish, might have allowed Bothriolepis to momentarily breathe out of the water. >
< Recommended readings on these little fellas or placoderms in general:
-Young, G.C. (2010). "Placoderms (Armored Fish): Dominant Vertebrates of the Devonian Period" [ https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-152507]
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-Young, G.C. (2010). "Placoderms (Armored Fish): Dominant Vertebrates of the Devonian Period" [ https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-152507]
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<
-Johanson, Zerina; Trinajstic, Kate (2014). "Fossilized ontogenies: the contribution of placoderm ontogeny to our understanding of the evolution of early gnathostomes"
[ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pala.12093]
>
-Johanson, Zerina; Trinajstic, Kate (2014). "Fossilized ontogenies: the contribution of placoderm ontogeny to our understanding of the evolution of early gnathostomes"
[ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pala.12093]
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<
-Giles, S., Rücklin, M., & Donoghue, P. C. (2013). Histology of "placoderm" dermal skeletons: Implications for the nature of the ancestral gnathostome. Journal of morphology.
[ https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.20119]
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-Giles, S., Rücklin, M., & Donoghue, P. C. (2013). Histology of "placoderm" dermal skeletons: Implications for the nature of the ancestral gnathostome. Journal of morphology.
[ https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.20119]
>
< Like I said, this is only a short thread with basic facts and information, as well as some recommended readings. Feel free to DM me with questions, add anything in the replies, or hit me up for casual conversation
!
Thank you!
!Thank you!
