Arandaspida

Arandaspida
Temporal range: Early Ordovician – Late Ordovician, 480–455 Ma
Life restoration of Arandaspis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Infraphylum: Agnatha
Class: †Pteraspidomorphi
Subclass: †Arandaspida
Ritchie and Gilbert-Tomlinson, 1977
Families
Sacabambaspis, the best known arandaspid, from the Ordovician of Bolivia. shows the characteristic, frontally positioned eyes, like car head lamps[1]

Arandaspida is a taxon of very early, jawless prehistoric fish which lived during the Ordovician period. Arandaspids represent the oldest known craniates, a proposed group of chordates that contain all chordates with a cartilage-derived skull (i.e., lampreys, armored agnathans, and gnathostomes), and hagfish. The group represents a subclass within the class Pteraspidomorphi, and contains only one order, the Arandaspidiformes. The oldest known genus of this group is Sacabambaspis found in South America.

  1. ^ Janvier, Philippe (1997) Arandaspida The Tree of Life Web Project.