NEW PLACODERM FISHES FROM THE LATE DEVONIAN OF SOUTH-AFRICA

New placoderm fishes are described from a black shale lens in the Fame nnian Witpoort Formation, near Grahamstown, South Africa. Arthrodires include a new species of Groenlandaspis, G. riniensis sp. nov., a new genus of groenlandaspidid, Africanaspis doryssa gen. et sp. nov., and a new species of the antiarch Bothriolepis, B. africana sp. nov. This is the first record of the ubiquitous genera Bothriolepis and Groenlan daspis from the African continent. The South African placoderm fauna h as demonstrable links with the eastern Gondwana faunas in the close af finity of the Bothriolepis africana with B. barreti of Antarctica, and the high diversity of groenlandaspid species, especially the presence of a very high crested form having affinities to Tiaraspis.