Phyllolepis
Sign in to savePhyllolepis (from the Greek roots for ‘leaf’ and ‘scale’) is the type genus of Phyllolepida, an extinct taxon of arthrodire placoderm fish from the middle to late Devonian. The species of Phyllolepis, themselves, are restricted to the Famennian-aged freshwater strata of the Late Devonian, around 360 million years ago. Fossils of this genus have been found primarily in Europe and North America. The end of the Devonian saw them disappear in a mass extinction.
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- Phyllolepis12DB.jpg
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- taxon name
- Phyllolepis
- Commons category
- Phyllolepis
- start time
- 380000000-
- end time
- 360000000-
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- Description and paleobiology
- Ecology
- Species
- History of categorization
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Phyllolepis (from the Greek roots for ‘leaf’ and ‘scale’) is the type genus of Phyllolepida, an extinct taxon of arthrodire placoderm fish from the middle to late Devonian. The species of Phyllolepis, themselves, are restricted to the Famennian-aged freshwater strata of the Late Devonian, around 360 million years ago. Fossils of this genus have been found primarily in Europe and North America. The end of the Devonian saw them disappear in a mass extinction.
Phyllolepis lived in freshwater environments, possibly rivers and streams. As with all other known phyllolepids, Phyllolepis were presumed to have been blind, bottom-dwelling predators that detected prey through sensory organs in the surface grooves of their armor plates (which gave their plates a distinctive "wooden surface" appearance).