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This thesis deals with early vertebrate fossil remains from the Lower Palaeozoic strata of the Barrandian area (Bohemian Massif). It is presented as a compilation of four papers that were published or submitted in scientific peer-reviewed journals with impact factor. All included papers are focused on the most abundant and diverse vertebrate fauna from the Barrandian area - the placoderms. Placodermi are early vertebrates characterized by articulated head and trunk shields composed of dermal bony plates. In the Barrandian area, they occur exclusively in the Devonian of the Prague Basin. The main objectives of the thesis are modern taxonomic revisions of the placoderm taxa from the Prague Basin as well as discussions about trends in their abundance, diversity, and distribution in space and time, taphonomy, and the evolutionary and phylogenetic implications of their morphology. Two characteristic placoderm associations were distinguished. In the Lochkovian and Pragian, members of the group Acanthothoraci dominate the placoderm record. Acanthothoracid placoderms are among the most basal jawed vertebrates and thus a detailed study of their morphology has a great potential to illuminate the relationships and evolutionary patterns among the stem jawed vertebrates. They are most abundant in the... |
