Shenacanthus vermiformis is known from the sole near-complete holotype IVPP V300000 and was placed within total-group Chondrichthyes, with exact stem position analysis-sensitive.
claim:taxon:shenacanthus:taxonomyShenacanthus vermiformis
A near-complete Telychian total-group chondrichthyan combining a scale-covered body and chondrichthyan-like branchial region with macromeric thoracic armour.
Represented range436–436 Ma
Content packagechondrichthyes
PBDBtxn:500057
Evidence boundary
Automated checks cover structure, identifiers, translations and links only; maintainer and external expert review are not complete.
Claim ledger
IVPP V300000 comes from the Telychian Huixingshao Formation at Yongdong, Xiushan, Chongqing, China; no wider distribution is inferred.
claim:taxon:shenacanthus:biogeographyThe body is aquatic in form, but the sole fossil does not directly establish diet, habitat preference, swimming performance or feeding guild.
claim:taxon:shenacanthus:ecologyIVPP V300000 combines minute scales and a chondrichthyan-like posterior branchial region with unexpectedly large thoracic armour plates.
claim:taxon:shenacanthus:morphologyThe displayed approximately 436 Ma point represents the Huixingshao Formation holotype and is not a global total-group or crown-chondrichthyan FAD.
claim:taxon:shenacanthus:fossil-rangeKnown limits
- A missing branch or fossil occurrence does not imply biological absence. Internal nodes are not calibrated divergence estimates.
References
- The oldest complete jawed vertebrates from the early Silurian of ChinaZhu, Y.; Li, Q.; Lu, J.; Chen, Y.; Wang, J.; Gai, Z.; Zhao, W.; Wei, G.; Yu, Y.; Ahlberg, P.E.; Zhu, M. · 2022 · DOI 10.1038/s41586-022-05136-8
- Open Tree of Life web servicesOpenTreeOfLife Project
- The Paleobiology Database application programming interfacePeters, S.E.; McClennen, M. · 2016 · DOI 10.1017/pab.2015.39
- Denormalized occurrence and taxon tables of the Paleobiology DatabaseThe Paleobiology Database Community; Kocsis, Á.T. · 2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21620933