Vincent Dupret

A primitive placoderm sheds light on the origin of the jawed vertebrate face

Extant vertebrates form two clades, the jawless Cyclostomata (lampreys and hagfishes) and the jawed Gnathostomata (all other vertebrates), with contrasting facial architectures. These arise during development from just a few key differences in the growth patterns of the cranial primordia: notably, the nasal sacs and hypophysis originate from a single placode in cyclostomes but from separate placodes in gnathostomes, and infraoptic ectomesenchyme migrates forward either side of the single placode in cyclostomes but between the placodes in gnathostomes. Fossil stem gnathostomes preserve cranial anatomies rich in landmarks that provide proxies for developmental processes and allow the transition from jawless to jawed vertebrates to be broken down into evolutionary steps. Here we use propagation phase contrast synchrotron microtomography to image the cranial anatomy of the primitive placoderm (jawed stem gnathostome) Romundina, and show that it combines jawed vertebrate architecture with cranial and cerebral proportions resembling those of cyclostomes and the galeaspid (jawless stem gnathostome) Shuyu. This combination seems to be primitive for jawed vertebrates, and suggests a decoupling between ectomesenchymal growth trajectory, ectomesenchymal proliferation, and cerebral shape change during the origin of gnathostomes.

A new genus of placoderm (Arthrodira: ‘Actinolepida’) from the Lower Devonian of Podolia (Ukraine)

Abstract A new genus of ‘actinolepid’ arthrodire placoderm, Erikaspis, is named to contain “Kujdanowiaspis” zychi Stensiö, 1945, from the Lochkovian–Pragian deposits (Lower Devonian) of Podolia (Ukraine). This new genus occurs together with the genus Kujdanowiaspis Stensiö, 1942, to which its type species was previously assigned. Distinctive ornamentation and pattern of dermal plates justify this new assignment. A phylogenetic analysis places Erikaspis, gen. nov., as a close relative of Kujdanowiaspis and of the contemporaneous species Sigaspis lepidophora Goujet, 1973, from Spitsbergen, all of them belonging to the family Kujdanowiaspididae Berg, 1955.

The internal cranial anatomy of Romundina stellina Ørvig, 1975 (Vertebrata, Placodermi, Acanthothoraci) and the origin of jawed vertebrates—Anatomical atlas of a primitive gnathostome

Placoderms are considered as the first jawed vertebrates and constitute a paraphyletic group in the stem-gnathostome grade. The acanthothoracid placoderms are among the phylogenetically most basal and morphologically primitive gnathostomes, but their neurocranial anatomy is poorly understood. Here we present a near-complete three-dimensional skull of Romundina stellina, a small Early Devonian acanthothoracid from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, scanned with propagation phase contrast microtomography at a 7.46 μm isotropic voxel size at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France. This is the first model of an early gnathostome skull produced using this technique, and as such represents a major advance in objectivity compared to past descriptions of placoderm neurocrania on the basis of grinding series. Despite some loss of material along an oblique crack, most of the internal structures are remarkably preserved, and most of the missing structures can be reconstructed by symmetry. This virtual approach offers the possibility to connect with certainty all the external foramina to the blood and nerve canals and the central structures, and thus identify accurate homologies without destroying the specimen. The high level of detail enables description of the main arterial, venous and nerve canals of the skull, and other perichondrally ossified endocranial structures such as the palatoquadrate articulations, the endocranial cavity and the inner ear cavities. The braincase morphology appears less extreme than that of Brindabellaspis, and is in some respects more reminiscent of a basal arthrodire such as Kujdanowiaspis.