A new Silurian fish close to the common ancestor of modern gnathostomes

Abstract

The Silurian Period occupies a pivotal stage in the unfolding of key evolutionary events, including the rise of jawed vertebrates.^1-4 However, the understanding of this early diversification is often hampered by the patchy nature of the Silurian fossil record,⁵ with the articulated specimens of jawed vertebrates only known in isolated localities, most notably Qujing, Yunnan, China.^6-9 Here, we report a new Silurian maxillate placoderm, Bianchengichthys micros, from the Ludlow of Chongqing, with a near-complete dermatoskeleton preserved in articulation. Although geographically separated, the new taxon resembles the previously reported Qilinyu in possessing a unique combination of dermatoskeletal characters. However, the dermal bone of the mandible in Bianchengichthys unexpectedly differs from those in both Qilinyu and Entelognathus and displays a broad oral lamina carrying a line of tooth-like denticles, in addition to the marginal toothless flange. The external morphology of the pectoral fin is preserved and reveals an extensively scale-covered lobate part, flanked by a fringe of lepidotrichia-like aligned scales. The phylogenetic analysis reveals that Bianchengichthys is positioned immediately below Entelognathus plus modern gnathostomes. The discovery significantly widens the distribution of Silurian placoderm-grade gnathostomes in South China and provides a range of morphological disparity for the outgroup comparison to the earliest evolution of jaws, dentitions, and pectoral fins in modern gnathostomes. We also demonstrate that the previously reported Silurian placoderms from central Vietnam¹⁰ are maxillate placoderms close to Qilinyu, Silurolepis, and Bianchengichthys, corroborating the paleogeographic proximity between the Indochina and South China blocks during the Middle Paleozoic.¹¹.

Keywords: Silurian; South China Block; dentition; gnathostome; paired appendages; placoderm; systematics; vertebrate.