asterolepis
|as-ter-o-le-pis|
🇺🇸
/ˌæstərəˈliːpɪs/
🇬🇧
/ˌæs.tə.rəˈliː.pɪs/
star + scale → genus of armored Devonian fish
Etymology
'asterolepis' originates from Greek, specifically the elements 'aster' and 'lepis', where 'aster-' meant 'star' and 'lepis' meant 'scale'.
'asterolepis' was coined in modern scientific (Neo-Latin) usage from Greek roots and adopted as the taxonomic genus name for these fossil fishes in 19th-century paleontology.
Initially it meant 'star-scale' (a descriptive compound referring to scale shape/ornament), but over time it has been fixed as the proper name of the genus 'Asterolepis'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a genus of extinct antiarch placoderm (armored) fishes known from Devonian-age fossil deposits.
Asterolepis fossils are found in freshwater deposits from the Devonian of Europe and North America.
Last updated: 2025/11/06 03:10