Tolypelepidida

Tolypelepidida
Temporal range: Silurian - Early Devonian
The type species, Tolypelepis undulata
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Agnatha
Class: Pteraspidomorpha
Subclass: Heterostraci
Order: Tolypelepidida
Denison 1964
Family: Tolypelepididae
Kiær 1932
Genera
  • Asketaspis
  • Athenaegis
  • Tolypelepis
Synonyms
  • Tolypelepidiformes

Tolypelepidida is an extinct order of heterostracan vertebrates. These armored jawless fish superficially resemble their relatives, the cyathaspids, though, researchers place the tolypelepids as a sister group to the cyathaspids and the pteraspidids (and both groups' daughter taxa). A recent study by Lundgren and Blom in 2013 implies that the order is paraphyletic, with the type genus, Tolypelepis, being the sister taxon of Cyathaspidiformes. The typical tolypelepid had a carapace formed from dorsal and ventral plates, and a scaly tail.