Another solution to the Menaspis armata problem

This is one of the most enigmatic vertebrates out there
Menaspis armata (Ewald 1848; Late Permian; > 15cm long) was described as a genus of Holocephalia (rat fish). Here (Figs 1, 2) it might be an extinct relative of the thornback ray, Raja clavata (Fig 1) and Leucoraja. Just guessing.

Figure 1. Menaspis fossil shown about life size on @72dpi monitors. Colors and hypotheticl restorations added here and compared to the extant thornback ray from Tasmania, Raja clavata. Those odd curved ventral bones might have been gill arches.

Most authors think the specimen is exposed in dorsal view,
making the enigmatic structures a series of paired claspers. Here those are ventral structures, most likely gill bars.

Figure 2. Menaspis in situ. Colors added here.

I’m looking at
the pelvic fins, the thorny skin of the tail, the broken base of the pectoral fin skeleton, and the five enigmatic curved bars that could be homologs of ventral gill bars. With current data the LRT is not helpful.

References
Bendix-Almgreen SE 1971. The anatomy of Menaspis armada and the phylogenetic affinities of the menaspid bradyodonts. Lethaia 4(1):21–49.
Ewald J 1848. Über Menaspis, eine neue fossile Fischgattung. Berichte Über die zur Bekanntmachung Geeigneten Verhandlungen der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zur Berlin 1848:33-35.
Jäckel O 1890. Über Menaspis, nebst allgemeinen Bemerkungen über die systematische Stellung der Elasmobranchii. Sitzungsb. Ges. nature. Freunde, Berlin 1891: 115–131.
Ortlam D 1986. Neue Aspekte zur Deutung von Menaspis armata Ewald (Kupferschiefer, Zechstein 1, Deutschland) mit Hilfe der stereoskopischen Röntgentechnik. Geologisches Jahrbuch Reihe A, Band A 81.
Patterson C 1968, Menaspis and the bradyodonts. In: T. Ørvig, Current Problems of Lower Vertebrate Phylogeny. (Hrsg.): Nobel Symposium. Band 4. Almquist and Wiksell, Stockholm 1968, S. 171–205.
Schaumberg G 1992. Neue Informationen zu Menaspis armata Ewald. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 66:311.

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