Qataraspis

Qataraspis^[1] (meaning "Qatar shield") is an extinct genus of primitive arthrodire placoderm that lived sometime around the Late Devonian in what is now Qatar.^[2] The type species is Q. deprofundis.^[3]

Qataraspis Temporal range: Late Devonian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
NHMUK PV P41933 (left) and NHMUK PV P41934 (right)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	†Placodermi
Order:	†Arthrodira
Family:	†Arctolepididae
Genus:	†Qataraspis White, 1969
Type species
†Qataraspis deprofundis White, 1969

Discovery and naming

The holotype, NHMUK PV P41933 and NHMUK PV P41934 (an almost complete right anterior lateral plate), was discovered during the 1950s in Qatar by the Iraq Petroleum Company within the 4.5 inches (11 cm) wide borehole DK 68 at a depth of 3,828 metres (12,559 ft), making it the deepest known occurrence of a fossil vertebrate to date.^[3] The holotype was sent to England to be studied and Qataraspis deprofundis was named and described by White (1969).^[3]

Casts of the holotype also exist, under specimen numbers PV P 75116 and PV P 75117.^[4]

Classification

White (1969) classified Qataraspis as a basal member of the Arthrodira.^[3] This classification was followed through by Denison (1978) in a review of the Placodermi, where it was placed in the Arctolepididae.^[2]