antiarch

▪ paleontology

      any of an order of extinct, mainly freshwater, jawed fishes, class Placodermi, abundant during Middle and Late Devonian times (387 to 360 million years ago). Members of such genera as Bothriolepis and Pterichthys were representative. Antiarchs were small and weak-jawed and had closely set eyes on top of the head. Armour shields covered the front part of the body as in the earliest known vertebrates, and armoured, jointed appendages extended from the shoulder regions. The hind part of the body was naked in Bothriolepis and covered with scales in Pterichthys.

      Antiarchs may have been bottom dwellers that fed upon small animals and on plants and swam with the pectoral appendages. The presence of paired sacs suggests that lungs were evolved earlier than was once thought.

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