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An early Ordovician vertebrate

Abstract

HETEROSTRACAN fishes are the oldest known fossil vertebrates, and well preserved examples are frequently found in rocks of late Silurian and Devonian age, but in older rocks their remains are fragmentary and rare. Their oldest occurrence yet described is in the Harding Sandstone, Colorado (middle Ordovician1,2), where two genera occur; one of these has subsequently been recognised in marine limestones of similar age from Ontario, Canada3.

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BOCKELIE, T., FORTEY, R. An early Ordovician vertebrate. Nature 260, 36–38 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260036a0

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