Research Paper
Non-tetrapod sarcopterygians from the Valentia Slate Formation (Givetian, Devonian) of the Iveragh Peninsula, south-western Ireland: systematic reappraisal and palaeobiogeographic implications
VINCENT DUPRET
Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden; vincent.dupret@ebc.uu.se
Corresponding author
HANNAH BYRNE
Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden; Hannah.byrne@ebc.uu.se
TOM CHALLANDS
University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences, Grant Institute of Earth Sciences, James Hutton Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FE, UK; Tom.Challands@ed.ac.uk
ØYVIND HAMMER
Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1172 Blindern, 0318 Oslo, Norway, oyvind.hammer@nhm.uio.no
KENNETH HIGGS
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, T23 N73K, Ireland; K.Higgs@ucc.ie
JOHN LONG
Flinders University, Biological Sciences (326), GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia; john.long@flinders.edu.au
GRZEGORZ NIEDŹWIEDZKI
Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden; grzegorz.niedzwiedzki@ebc.uu.se,
MARTIN QVARNSTRÖM
Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden; martin.qvarnstom@ebc.uu.se
IWAN STÖSSEL
ETH Zürich, Department of Earth Sciences, NO D 51.1, Sonneggstrasse 5, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland; istoessel@ethz.ch
PER ERIK AHLBERG
Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden; per.ahlberg@ebc.uu.se
ABSTRACT
The Middle Devonian (Givetian) Valentia Slate Formation in the Iveragh Peninsula, southwest Ireland, is more renowned for the second oldest record of tetrapod trackways in the world than for its heavily metamorphosed bone remains. The present study focuses on new discoveries of non-tetrapod sarcopterygian fish fossils from the Valentia Slate Formation. Micro-CT scanning technology allows a re-interpretation of a previously published acanthodian fin spine as a fanged coronoid of a probable Rhizodontida and the identification of a Dipnoi tooth plate and bone. In addition, a scale of Holoptychius is described. The presence of rhizodontids suggests Gondwanan ties, and a first northward dispersal wave of these vertebrates into Euramerica as early as middle Givetian. This hypothesis is supported by the common occurrence of the placoderm Bothriolepis in the Valentia Slate Formation.
Key words: Lungfish, Toothplate, Coronoid bone, Rhizodont, μCT-scanning
How to cite: Dupret, V., Byrne, H., Challands,T., Hammer, Ø., Higgs, K., Long,J., Niedźwiedzki, G., Qvarnström, M., Stössel,I., & Ahlberg. P.E. 2023. Non-tetrapod sarcopterygians from the Valentia Slate Formation (Givetian, Devonian) of the Iveragh Peninsula, south-western Ireland: systematic reappraisal and palaeobiogeographic implications. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 38(1), 37-46.
Received 13 December 2022, Accepted 23 April 2023, Published online 1 June 2023
https://doi.org/10.7203/sjp.26527
