A new antiarch fish from the Upper Devonian Zhongning Formation of Ningxia, China

A new antiarch, Ningxialepis spinosa n. gen. n. sp., is described from the Zhongning Formation (Famennian, Late Devonian) of Shixiagou, Qingtongxia, Ningxia, northwestern China. It is characterized by the presence of X-shaped pit-lines, long obstantic margins, high dorsal median spine of the trunk armour formed from the anterior and posterior median dorsal plates, prominent dorsolateral and ventrolateral ridges of the trunk armour, and the anterior median dorsal plate partly overlapping the anterior dorsolateral plate. alepis is placed as the sister taxon to Jiangxilepis in the Family Jiangxilepidae from South China, based on a phylogenetic analysis of the Euantiarcha. The Jiangxilepidae is redefined. The close affinity between Ningxialepis and Jiangxilepis further corroborates the geographic proximity between the North China and South China blocks in the Late Devonian.