''Yongdongaspis'', colloquially known as the Binhai Yongdong, is an extinct genus of

galeaspid 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 shallo ...

within the monotypic family Yongdongaspididae. The type species is ''Y. littoralis'' and it was found in the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

-aged Huixingshao Formation of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. This makes it the oldest known

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

fossil discovered in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

to date. The holotype was excavated in July 2020 and was prepared in 2021, before being named as the new species ''Yongdongaspis littoralis'' in July 2022. Based on this holotype, ''Yongdongaspis'' only grew to around long.

References

Galeaspida Prehistoric jawless fish genera Fossil taxa described in 2022 Prehistoric animals of China Silurian jawless fish Chongqing {{silurian-animal-stub

See also

References