Cardipeltis

{{Short description|Extinct genus of jawless fishes}} {{Italic title}} {{Taxobox | name = ''Cardipeltis'' | image = Cardipeltis-FMNH.jpg | image_caption = ''C. richardsoni'' specimen on display at the Field Museum of Natural History. | fossil_range = Early Devonian | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Pteraspidomorphi | subclassis = Heterostraci | ordo = '''Cardipeltiformes''' | familia = '''Cardipeltidae''' | genus = '''''Cardipeltis''''' | genus_authority = Branson & Mehl, 1931 | type_species = ''Cardipeltis wallacii'' | type_species_authority = Branson & Mehl, 1931 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * ''C. wallacii'' Branson & Mehl, 1931 * ''C. bryanti'' Denison, 1966 * ''C. richardsoni'' Denison, 1966 | synonyms = * ''C. oblongus'' * ''C. sinclairi'' }} left|thumb|258x258px|Life restoration of ''C. bryanti'' '''''Cardipeltis''''' is an extinct genus of heterostracan agnathan from marine strata of early Devonian of Utah, and Wyoming.<ref name=bryantruedemann>Bryant, William L., and Rudolph Ruedemann. "The fish fauna of Beartooth Butte, Wyoming. Parts II and III." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1934): 127-167.</ref><ref name=denison>Denison, Robert Howland. Cardipeltis: an early Devonian agnathan of the Order Heterostraci. Field Museum of Natural History, 1966.</ref> Species of ''Cardipeltis'' superficially resemble those of cyathaspids in having a flattened body and indistinct head covered by a large, broad, guitar pick or heart-shaped dorsal shield, and a long, scaly tail. Unlike cyathaspids, which all have a single ventral plate, however, the ventral shield of ''Cardipeltis'' is a mosaic composed of large scales.

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Heterostraci genera Category:Devonian jawless fish Category:Devonian fish of North America Category:Taxa named by Maurice Mehl