Newly collected and restudied earlier materials on an enigmatic fish Ventalepis ketleriensis Schultze, 1980
from the upper Famennian (postera – ? Lower expansa conodont zones) of Latvia and central and northwestern
Russia support its porolepiform affinities. A new family Ventalepididae fam. nova is established for this genus
upon a peculiar combination of characters, including scale structure and dermal bones ornamentation. New
records extend the distribution of this genus and the Ventalepis vertebrate assemblage on the whole to a vast
geographical zone along the south-eastern coast of the Old Red Sandstone continent. The habitat area of the
Devonian vertebrate assemblage over such a large territory within the zoogeographical province of Baltica is
established for the first time. Palaeozoogeographical analysis suggests Laurentian affinities of the Ventalepis
assemblage demonstrating the major congruency to the Belgian and East Greenland ones. These and Russian
localities are separated by a vast ORS continent. Presence of the dipnoan Jarvikia in all three locations, as well
as an Ichthyostega-like tetrapod in the Belgian one reveals palaeozoogeographical connections, which might
reflect possible dwelling not only in the near-shore continent periphery but also in the river systems of the
continent itself.