''Blieckaspis priscillae'' is a pteraspidid heterostracan

agnatha Agnatha (; ) or jawless fish is a paraphyletic infraphylum of animals in the subphylum Vertebrata of the phylum Chordata, characterized by the lack of jaws. The group consists of both extant taxon, living (Cyclostomi, cyclostomes such as hagfish ...

n from the Middle

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. ''Blieckaspis priscillae'' was originally described by Robert Denison from incomplete remains from Late Emsian-aged marine strata in Water Canyon,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, 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 The Lost Burro Formation is a Middle to Upper/Late Devonian geologic formation in the Mojave Desert of California in the Western United States. Geology The Dolomite formation is exposed in sections of the Darwin Hills, the Santa Rosa Hills, ...

in Death Valley, California,"Death Valley National Park," Hunt, Santucci, and Kenworthy (2010); page 63.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. Elliott & Ilyes erected a new genus, ''Blieckaspis'', in honor of Blieck, for "P." ''priscillae''.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.

References

Pteraspidiformes genera Devonian jawless fish Middle Devonian animals Devonian animals of North America Devonian fish of North America Devonian California Devonian geology of Utah Death Valley National Park Natural history of the Mojave Desert Paleontology in California Fossil taxa described in 1996 {{Paleo-jawless-fish-stub