Devonian antiarch placoderms from Belgium revisited

Abstract

Anatomical, systematic, and paleobiogeographical data on the Devonian antiarchs from Belgium are reviewed, updated and completed thanks to new data from the field and re-examination of paleontological collections. The material of Bothriolepis lohesti is enhanced and the species redescribed in more detail. An undetermined species of Bothriolepis is recorded from the Famennian of Modave (Liège Province), one species of Asterolepis redescribed from the Givetian of Hingeon and another one described from the Givetian of Mazy (Namur Province). Grossilepis rikiki sp. nov. is recorded from the Famennian tetrapod-bearing locality of Strud (Namur Province) and from the Famennian of Moresnet (Liège Province). It is the first occurrence of Grossilepis after the Frasnian and on the central southern coast of the Euramerican continent. Its occurrence in the Famennian of Belgium may be the result of a late arrival from the Moscow Platform and the Baltic Depression, where the genus is known from Frasnian deposits. Remigolepis durnalense sp. nov. is described from the Famennian of Spontin near Durnal (Namur Province). Except for the doubtful occurrence of Remigolepis sp. in Scotland, this is the first record of this genus in Western Europe. Its occurrence in Belgium reinforces the strong faunal affinities between Belgium and East Greenland and the hypothesis of a hydrographical link between the two areas during the Late Devonian.