Cardipeltis

Cardipeltis is an extinct genus of heterostracan agnathan from marine strata of early Devonian of Utah, and Wyoming.^[1][2] Species of Cardipeltis superficially resemble those of cyathaspids in having a flattened body and indistinct head covered by a large, broad, guitar pick or heart-shaped dorsal shield, and a long, scaly tail. Unlike cyathaspids, which all have a single ventral plate, however, the ventral shield of Cardipeltis is a mosaic composed of large scales.

Cardipeltis Temporal range: Early Devonian
C. richardsoni specimen on display at the Field Museum of Natural History.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Pteraspidomorphi
Subclass:	Heterostraci
Order:	Cardipeltiformes
Family:	Cardipeltidae
Genus:	Cardipeltis Branson & Mehl, 1931
Type species
Cardipeltis wallacii Branson & Mehl, 1931
Species
C. wallacii Branson & Mehl, 1931 C. bryanti Denison, 1966 C. richardsoni Denison, 1966
Synonyms
C. oblongus C. sinclairi

Life restoration of C. bryanti

References

1. Bryant, William L., and Rudolph Ruedemann. "The fish fauna of Beartooth Butte, Wyoming. Parts II and III." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1934): 127-167.
2. Denison, Robert Howland. Cardipeltis: an early Devonian agnathan of the Order Heterostraci. Field Museum of Natural History, 1966.