THE GENUS GIGANTASPIS HEINTZ, 1962 (VERTEBRATA, HETEROSTRACI) FROM THE LOWER DEVONIAN OF SPITSBERGEN

Abstract:  Material collected in 1969 by the CNRS-MNHN expedition to Spitsbergen includes a new species of Gigantaspis, G. minima, which is the smallest known species of this genus. The revision of Gigantaspis leads to the inclusion of Zascinaspis laticephala Blieck and Goujet in this genus. The phylogenetic analysis presented herein suggests that Gigantaspis is close to Zascinaspis, as suggested by Blieck. Moreover, it is also close to generalized representatives of the Protaspididae. Their shared character states allow the definition of a possible ancestral morphotype for the Protaspididae.