Cardipeltis

Cardipeltis; Temporal range: Early Devonian
	C. richardsoni specimen on display at the Field Museum of Natural History.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Pteraspidomorphi
Subclass:	Heterostraci
Order:	Cardipeltiformes
Family:	Cardipeltidae
Genus:	Cardipeltis; Branson & Mehl, 1931
Type species
	Cardipeltis wallacii; Branson & Mehl, 1931
Species
	C. wallacii Branson & Mehl, 1931; C. bryanti Denison, 1966; C. richardsoni Denison, 1966;
Synonyms
	C. oblongus; C. sinclairi;

Cardipeltis is an extinct genus of heterostracan agnathan from marine strata of early Devonian of Utah, and Wyoming. 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.

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