Ordovician fish from the Arabian Peninsula

Over the past three decades Ordovician pteraspidomorphs (armoured jawless fish) have been recorded from the fringes of the Gondwana palaeocontinent, in particular Australia and South America. These occurrences are dominated by arandaspid agnathans, the oldest known group of vertebrates with extensive biomineralisation of the dermoskeleton. Here we describe specimens of arandaspid agnathans, referable to the genus Sacabambaspis Gagnier, Blieck and Rodrigo, from the Ordovician of Oman, which represent the earliest record of pteraspidomorphs from the Arabian margin of Gondwana. These are among the oldest arandaspids known, and greatly extend the palaeogeographical distribution of the clade around the periGondwanan margin. Their occurrence within a very narrow, nearshore ecological niche suggests that similar Middle Ordovician palaeoenvironmental settings should be targeted for further sampling.