Devonian vertebrates from Colombia

Abstract

Vertebrate remains are reported from the Emsian-Eifelian Floresta Formation and the Late Devonian (?Frasnian) Cuche Formation of north-eastern Colombia. The material from the Floresta Formation is associated with a marine invertebrate fauna and includes an arthrodire and probably a rhenanid. Several vertebrate-bearing localities are recorded from the Cuche Formation; vertebrates occur with plant remains and lingulid fragments. They include an acanthodian (Cheiracanthoides? sp.), a chondrichthyan (Antarctilamna? sp.), placoderms (Bothriolepis sp., Asterolepis? sp. and an undetermined groenlandaspidid or primitive brachythoracid arthrodire), a stegotrachelid actinopterygian, and three sarcopterygians (a cosmine-covered form tentatively referred to an osteolepidid, the porolepiform Holoptychius sp., and the rhizodontid Strepsodus? sp.). This assemblage suggests a Late Frasnian age and is surprisingly similar to Late Devonian vertebrate assemblages found in similar facies of Europe and North America, notwithstanding the presence of the Gondwanan chondrichthyan Antarctilamna?.