| 1. |
- Beznosov, Pavel A., et al.
(författare)
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Morphology of the earliest reconstructable tetrapod Parmastega aelidae
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 574:7779, s. 527-531
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The known diversity of tetrapods of the Devonian period has increased markedly in recent decades, but their fossil record consists mostly of tantalizing fragments(1-15). The framework for interpreting the morphology and palaeobiology of Devonian tetrapods is dominated by the near complete fossils of Ichthyostega and Acanthostega; the less complete, but partly reconstructable, Ventastega and Tulerpeton have supporting roles(2,4,16-34). All four of these genera date to the late Famennian age (about 365-359 million years ago)-they are 10 million years younger than the earliest known tetrapod fragments(5,10), and nearly 30 million years younger than the oldest known tetrapod footprints(35). Here we describe Parmastega aelidae gen. et sp. nov., a tetrapod from Russia dated to the earliest Famennian age (about 372 million years ago), represented by three-dimensional material that enables the reconstruction of the skull and shoulder girdle. The raised orbits, lateral line canals and weakly ossified postcranial skeleton of P. aelidae suggest a largely aquatic, surface-cruising animal. In Bayesian and parsimony-based phylogenetic analyses, the majority of trees place Parmastega as a sister group to all other tetrapods.
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| 2. |
- Ahlberg, Per E., et al.
(författare)
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Palaeontology: A firm step from water to land
- 2006
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 440:7085, s. 747-749
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 3. |
- Ahlberg, Per E., 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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The smallest known Devonian tetrapod shows unexpectedly derived features
- 2020
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Ingår i: Royal Society Open Science. - : ROYAL SOC. - 2054-5703. ; 7:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new genus and species of Devonian tetrapod, Brittagnathus minutus gen. et sp. nov., is described from a single complete right lower jaw ramus recovered from the Acanthostega mass-death deposit in the upper part of the Britta Dal Formation (upper Famennian) of Stensio Bjerg, Gauss Peninsula, East Greenland. Visualization by propagation phase contrast synchrotron microtomography allows a complete digital dissection of the specimen. With a total jaw ramus length of 44.8 mm, Brittagnathus is by far the smallest Devonian tetrapod described to date. It differs from all previously known Devonian tetrapods in having only a fang pair without a tooth row on the anterior coronoid and a large posterior process on the posterior coronoid. The presence of an incipient surangular crest and a concave prearticular margin to the adductor fossa together cause the fossa to face somewhat mesially, reminiscent of the condition in Carboniferous tetrapods. A phylogenetic analysis places Brittagnathus crownward to other Devonian tetrapods, adjacent to the Tournaisian genus Pederpes. Together with other recent discoveries, it suggests that diversification of 'Carboniferous-grade' tetrapods had already begun before the end of the Devonian and that the group was not greatly affected by the end-Devonian mass extinction.
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| 4. |
- Blom, Henning, et al.
(författare)
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Devonian vertebrates from East Greenland : a review of faunal composition and distribution
- 2007
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Ingår i: Geodiversitas. - 1280-9659 .- 1638-9395. ; 29:1, s. 119-141
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Devonian vertebrate faunas of East Greenland are reviewed and their distribution discussed for the first time in the light of the most recently published stratigraphical framework for the area. The predominantly Middle and Upper Devonian continental sediments have yielded representatives of most major groups of early fossil vertebrates, including heterostracans, placoderms, acanthodians, chondrichthyans, actinopterygians, lungfishes, porolepiforms, "osteolepiforms" and tetrapods, but to date, no single publication has treated them all in their stratigraphical context. We therefore attempt to place them into the most recent, formalised lithostratigraphy, providing improved resolution for their stratigraphical distribution, as a basis for comparing East Greenland with other Devonian faunal successions worldwide. The review highlights the fact that many problems of stratigraphical correlation and dating of the East Greenland Devonian deposits remain to be resolved by further fieldwork. Several assemblages ranging from Givetian to Famennian in age can be distinguished, that correspond to older superceded subdivisional nomenclature. A possible Frasnian fauna has been recognised for the first time, adding details to an otherwise poorly dated part of the succession. Typical Devonian taxa such as Holoptychius Agassiz, 1839 and Groenlandaspis Heintz, 1932 have apparently been recorded in an otherwise unique position above the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary in the upper part of the succession. New specimens of rare elements of the fauna including an unknown arthrodire placoderm, a putative chondrichthyan spine and a patch of possibly regurgitated acanthodian spines, are illustrated for the first time.
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| 5. |
- Callier, Viviane, et al.
(författare)
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Contrasting developmental trajectories in the earliest known tetrapod forelimbs
- 2009
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 324:5925, s. 364-367
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ichthyostega and Acanthostega are the earliest tetrapods known from multiple near-complete skeletons, with Acanthostega generally considered the more primitive. New material indicates differing ontogenetic trajectories for their forelimbs: In Ichthyostega, the pattern of muscle attachment processes on small humeri (upper armbones) resembles that in "fish" members of the tetrapod stem group such as Tiktaalik, whereas large humeri approach (but fail to attain) the tetrapod crown-group condition; in Acanthostega, both small and large humeri exhibit the crown-group pattern. We infer that Ichthyostega underwent greater locomotory terrestrialization during ontogeny. The newly recognized primitive characteristics also suggest that Ichthyostega could be phylogenetically more basal than Acanthostega.
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| 6. |
- Clack, Jennifer A., et al.
(författare)
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A new genus of Devonian tetrapod from North-East Greenland, with new information on the lower jaw of Ichthyostega
- 2012
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Ingår i: Palaeontology. - : Wiley. - 0031-0239 .- 1475-4983. ; 55:1, s. 73-86
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new genus and species of Devonian tetrapod has been identified from material collected in 1947 from the southern slope of Mt. Celsius, Ymer phi, North-East Greenland. The specimen preserves both lower jaws, partial palate, premaxillae and maxillae, with a natural mould of parts of the shoulder girdle. The new taxon, Ymeria denticulata, shows differences in dentition, skull ornament and lateral line expression from both Acanthostega and Ichthyostega, but it shows a closer resemblance to the latter. A cladistic analysis not only suggests that Ymeria lies adjacent to Ichthyostega on the tetrapod stem, but also reveals substantial topological instability. As the third genus and the fifth species of tetrapod identified from North-East Greenland, it demonstrates the high diversity of Devonian tetrapods in that region.
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| 7. |
- Clack, Jennifer A., et al.
(författare)
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Sarcopterygians : From Lobe-Finned Fishes to the Tetrapod Stem Group
- 2016
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Ingår i: Evolution of the Vertebrate Ear. - Cham : Springer Publishing Company. - 9783319466590 - 9783319466613 ; , s. 51-70
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The sarcopterygians or lobe-finned fishes is the group that gave rise to tetrapods, and they were the dominant bony fishes of the Devonian period. Their otic regions were constructed similarly to those of both the actinopterygians and chondrichthyans, their structure being the common inheritance of all jawed vertebrates. One distinguishing feature of the primitive sarcopterygian braincase was that the division between the anterior ethmosphenoid and posterior otoccipital section sof the braincase was marked by a flexible hinge joint, which is seen today in the modern coelacanth, Latimeria. The hyomandibular was long and projected ventrally with an opercular process that contacted the opercular bone and with the distal end associated indirectly with the jaw joint. It was a key component of the buccal pumping mechanism for breathing and feeding. The braincases of dipnoans (lungfishes) were the most highly modified of sarcopterygian braincases with consolidated fore and aft portions and reduction or loss of the hyomandibula. The utricle was enlarged in several fossil dipnoans, although the reason for this is not clear. The braincases of tetrapodomorph sarcopterygians differed little from the primitive condition in the group. The main modifications were to the more crownward and tetrapod-like forms from the Late Devonian. In these fishes, the hyomandibula was reduced in length, its contact with the opercular bone lost and, ultimately, the opercular bone itself disappeared. The spiracular notch and associated cleft increased in width and volume respectively, possibly resulting in increased air-breathing capacity and reduced use of the gill system.
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| 8. |
- Pierce, Stephanie E., et al.
(författare)
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Vertebral architecture in the earliest stem tetrapods
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 494:7436, s. 226-229
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The construction of the vertebral column has been used as a key anatomical character in defining and diagnosing early tetrapod groups(1). Rhachitomous vertebrae(2)-in which there is a dorsally placed neural arch and spine, an anteroventially placed intercentrum and paired, posterodorsally placed pleurocentra have long been considered the ancestral morphology for tetrapods(1,3-6). Nonetheless, very little is known about vertebral anatomy in the earliest stem tetrapods, because most specimens remain trapped in surrounding matrix, obscuring Important anatomical features(7-9). Here we describe the three-dimensional vertebral architecture of the Late Devonian stem tetrapod Ichthyostega using propagation phase-contrast X-ray synchrotron. microtomography. Our scans reveal a diverse array of new morphological, and associated developmental and functional, characteristics, including a possible posterior-to-anterior vertebral ossification sequence and the first evolutionary appearance of ossified sternal elements. One of the most intriguing features relates to the positional relationships between the vertebral elements, with the pleurocentra being unexpectedly sutured or fused to the intercentra that directly succeed them, indicating a 'reverse' rhachitomous design(10). Comparison of Ichthyostega with two other stem tetrapods, Acanthostegi and Pederpess, shows that reverse rhachitomous vertebrae may be the ancestral condition for limbed vertebrates. This study fundamentally revises our current understanding' of vertebral column evolution in the earliest tetrapods and raises questions about the presumed vertebral architecture of tetrapodomorph fish(12,13) and later, more crownward, tetrapods.
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| 9. |
- Sanchez, Sophie, et al.
(författare)
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Life history of the stem tetrapod Acanthostega revealed by synchrotron microtomography
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 537:7620, s. 408-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The transition from fish to tetrapod was arguably the most radical series of adaptive shifts in vertebrate evolutionary history. Data are accumulating rapidly for most aspects of these events(1-5), but the life histories of the earliest tetrapods remain completely unknown, leaving a major gap in our understanding of these organisms as living animals. Symptomatic of this problem is the unspoken assumption that the largest known Devonian tetrapod fossils represent adult individuals. Here we present the first, to our knowledge, life history data for a Devonian tetrapod, from the Acanthostega mass-death deposit of Stensio Bjerg, East Greenland(6,7). Using propagation phase-contrast synchrotron microtomography (PPC-SR mu CT)(8) to visualize the histology of humeri (upper arm bones) and infer their growth histories, we show that even the largest individuals from this deposit are juveniles. A long early juvenile stage with unossified limb bones, during which individuals grew to almost final size, was followed by a slow-growing late juvenile stage with ossified limbs that lasted for at least six years in some individuals. The late onset of limb ossification suggests that the juveniles were exclusively aquatic, and the predominance of juveniles in the sample suggests segregated distributions of juveniles and adults at least at certain times. The absolute size at which limb ossification began differs greatly between individuals, suggesting the possibility of sexual dimorphism, adaptive strategies or competition-related size variation.
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