Late Silurian fish microfossils from Klinta and Rinnebäcks Bro (Scania, south Sweden), with remarks on the morphology of Nostolepis striata trunk scales

The microvertebrate faunas from ten small pieces of rock from the Öved Sandstone Formation at Klinta (1-10) yielded osteostracan, heterostracan, thelodont, and acanthodian remains, dated here as Whitcliffian. The most important age indicators are the heterostracan Archegonaspis and the thelodont zonal fossil Thelodus sculptilis. The latter taxon is also present in a small Whitcliffian fauna from the Öved Sandstone Formation at Rinnebäcks bro, together with other thelodont and acanthodian remains. From Rinnebäcks bro no previous records of Silurian fish fossils exist. In an attempt to gain a better understanding of nostolepid trunk scale variation and to develop an instrument to assess this variation, seven Nostolepis striata trunk scales from Klinta are described and discussed on the basis of 42 morphological features. Some of these features enable detailed comparison between N. striata trunk scale variants and with scales of allied nostolepid taxa. A contribution to IGCP 406: Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Vertebrates.