Menaspis

Menaspis
	Menaspis armata and Deltoptychius
Temporal occurrence
	Late Permian ( Wuchiapingium , Changhsingium )
	259 to 254 million years
Locations
	Germany;
Systematics
Superclass :	Jaw mouths (Gnathostomata)
Class :	Cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes)
Subclass :	Holocephali
Order :	Menaspidiformes
Family :	Menaspidae
Genre :	Menaspis
Scientific name
	Menaspis
	Ewald , 1848

Menaspis is an extinct genus of cartilaginous fish from the late Upper Permian ( Wuchiapingium and Changhsingium , 259 to 254 mya ) from Germany. The genus belongs to the Holocephali and was a nectobenthic predator.

Initial description

Menaspis was first scientifically described by Julius Ewald in 1848 . Further arrangements come from Jaekel (1891), Zangerl (1981), from Holzapfel and Malzahn (1984) and from Günther Schaumberg (1992).

Holotype

The holotype of Menaspis was discovered in the marine limestone of the copper slate , the type locality is near Lonau in the Upper Harz .

features

Artistic reconstruction of Janassa bituminosa (top and left) and Menaspis armata (right)

Characteristic of Menaspis are three pairs of curved spiky appendages on the underside of the head. The middle pair is very large and bent back far back, almost touching the pectoral fins. In terms of its teeth, Menaspis is very similar to today's sea cats , but otherwise shows very different characteristics. The body is flattened dorsoventrally . Dorsal fins are absent. Behind the top of the head, the animal has a skin armor that is reinforced with very small, conical appendages. The skin armor forms a pair of wing-like extensions that protrude above the head spines and take on a kind of protective function for them. Patterson (1968) sees Menaspis either as a specialized member of the sea cats or as an independent group of animals.

Locations

Germany :
- Eisleben
- Gera
- Lonau
- Richelsdorf
- Rossenray
- Sangerhausen
- Thalitter
- Uffels

literature

Hartmut Haubold and Günther Schaumberg: The fossils of copper slate . Wittenberg 1985.
Josef Paul: The copper slate: lithology, stratigraphy, facies and metallogenesis of a black slate . In: Journal of the German Geological Society . tape 157 (1) , 2006, pp. 57-76 .
Steel B .: Chondrichthyes III. In: HP Schultze and P. Kuhn (Eds.): Handbook of Palaeoichthyology . Vol. 4 Holocephali. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart - New York 1999, p. 164 .
Zangerl, R .: Chondrichthyes I. Paleozoic elasmobranchs . In: HP Schultze (Ed.): Handbook of Paleoichthyology . Vol. 3 Elasmobranchi. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1981.

Individual evidence

↑ Menaspis Paleobiology Database. Retrieved September 12, 2017
↑ J. Ewald: About Menaspis, a new fossil fish genus. Reports on the negotiations of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin that are suitable for publication . 1848, p. 33-35 .
↑ Ortlam, D .: New aspects for the interpretation of Menaspis armata Ewald (Kupferschiefer, Zechstein 1, Germany) with the help of stereoscopic X-ray technology . In: Geological Yearbook . A 81, 1986, p. 3-57 .
↑ Patterson, C .: Menaspis and the bradyodonts. In: T. Ørvig, Current Problems of Lower Vertebrate Phylogeny. (Ed.): Nobel Symposium . tape 4 . Almquist and Wiksell, Stockholm 1968, p. 171-205 .
↑ Friedrich Bachmayer and Erich Malzahn: The first evidence of a decapod cancer in the Lower Rhine copper schist . In: Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Vienna . 85 / A. Vienna 1983, p. 99-106 .

[1] Menaspis Paleobiology Database. Retrieved September 12, 2017

[2] J. Ewald: About Menaspis, a new fossil fish genus. Reports on the negotiations of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin that are suitable for publication . 1848, p. 33-35 .

[3] Ortlam, D .: New aspects for the interpretation of Menaspis armata Ewald (Kupferschiefer, Zechstein 1, Germany) with the help of stereoscopic X-ray technology . In: Geological Yearbook . A 81, 1986, p. 3-57 .

[4] Patterson, C .: Menaspis and the bradyodonts. In: T. Ørvig, Current Problems of Lower Vertebrate Phylogeny. (Ed.): Nobel Symposium . tape 4 . Almquist and Wiksell, Stockholm 1968, p. 171-205 .

[5] Friedrich Bachmayer and Erich Malzahn: The first evidence of a decapod cancer in the Lower Rhine copper schist . In: Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Vienna . 85 / A. Vienna 1983, p. 99-106 .