A bit of fauna depicted on the back of a plate (6)
I believe the answer is:
animal
'a bit of fauna depicted' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'the back of a plate' is the wordplay.
'the back of' is a reversal indicator (I've seen 'backed' mean this).
'a plate' becomes 'lamina' (I've seen this before).
'lamina' written backwards gives 'ANIMAL'.
'on' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for animal that I've seen before include "something in the zoo?" , "lamb, perhaps" , "It shares the world with vegetable and mineral" , "Source of meat" , "Brute - one of the Muppets" .)