ORDOVICIAN FISH from the ARABIAN PENINSULA by IVAN J
[Palaeontology, Vol. 52, Part 2, 2009, pp. 337–342] ORDOVICIAN FISH FROM THE ARABIAN PENINSULA by IVAN J. SANSOM*, C. GILES MILLER , ALAN HEWARDà,–, NEIL S. DAVIES*,**, GRAHAM A. BOOTHà, RICHARD A. FORTEY and FLORENTIN PARIS§ *Earth Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; e-mail: i.j.sansom@bham.ac.uk Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK; e-mails: g.miller@nhm.ac.uk and r.fortey@nhm.ac.uk àPetroleum Development Oman, Muscat, Oman; e-mail: graham.booth@pdo.co.om §Ge´osciences, Universite´ de Rennes, 35042 Rennes, France; e-mail: florentin.paris@univ-rennes1.fr –Present address: Petrogas E&P, Muscat, Oman; e-mail: alan.heward@petrogas.com.om **Present address: Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5, Canada; e-mail: neil.s.davies@dal.ca Typescript received 25 February 2008; accepted in revised form 19 May 2008 Abstract: Over the past three decades Ordovician pteras- morphs from the Arabian margin of Gondwana. These are pidomorphs (armoured jawless fish) have been recorded among the oldest arandaspids known, and greatly extend from the fringes of the Gondwana palaeocontinent, in par- the palaeogeographical distribution of the clade around the ticular Australia and South America. These occurrences are periGondwanan margin. Their occurrence within a very dominated by arandaspid agnathans, the oldest known narrow, nearshore ecological niche suggests that similar group of vertebrates with extensive biomineralisation of Middle Ordovician palaeoenvironmental settings should be the dermoskeleton. Here we describe specimens of arandas- targeted for further sampling. pid agnathans, referable to the genus Sacabambaspis Gagnier, Blieck and Rodrigo, from the Ordovician of Key words: Ordovician, pteraspidomorphs, Gondwana pal- Oman, which represent the earliest record of pteraspido- aeocontinent, Sacabambaspis, Oman.
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