Ligulalepis
| Ligulalepis Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Skull of Ligulalepis toombsi | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Osteichthyes |
| Genus: | †Ligulalepis Schultze 1968 |
| Type species | |
| †Ligulalepis toombsi Schultze 1968 | |
| Species | |
| |
Ligulalepis is an extinct genus of stem-osteichthyans which lived from the Silurian to the Early Devonian. Ligulalepis was first described from isolated scales found in the Taemas-Wee jasper limestones of New South Wales (Emsian age) by Hans-Peter Schultze (1968) and further material described by Burrow (1994). A nearly complete skull found in the same general location was described in Nature by Basden et al. (2000) claiming the genus was closely related to basal ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii). In 2015 Flinders University student Benedict King found a more complete new skull of this genus which was formally described by Clement et al. (2018), showing Ligulalepis to be on the stem of all osteichthyans.