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- Brazeau, Martin D., et al.
(författare)
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Endochondral bone in an Early Devonian 'placoderm' from Mongolia
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Ecology & Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-334X. ; 4:11, s. 1477-1484
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Endochondral bone is the main internal skeletal tissue of nearly all osteichthyans—the group comprising more than 60,000 living species of bony fishes and tetrapods. Chondrichthyans (sharks and their kin) are the living sister group of osteichthyans and have primarily cartilaginous endoskeletons, long considered the ancestral condition for all jawed vertebrates (gnathostomes). The absence of bone in modern jawless fishes and the absence of endochondral ossification in early fossil gnathostomes appear to lend support to this conclusion. Here we report the discovery of extensive endochondral bone in Minjinia turgenensis, a new genus and species of ‘placoderm’-like fish from the Early Devonian (Pragian) of western Mongolia described using X-ray computed microtomography. The fossil consists of a partial skull roof and braincase with anatomical details providing strong evidence of placement in the gnathostome stem group. However, its endochondral space is filled with an extensive network of fine trabeculae resembling the endochondral bone of osteichthyans. Phylogenetic analyses place this new taxon as a proximate sister group of the gnathostome crown. These results provide direct support for theories of generalized bone loss in chondrichthyans. Furthermore, they revive theories of a phylogenetically deeper origin of endochondral bone and its absence in chondrichthyans as a secondary condition.
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- Castiello, Marco, et al.
(författare)
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Endocranial morphology of the petalichthyid placoderm Ellopetalichthys scheii from the Middle Devonian of Arctic Canada, with remarks on the inner ear and neck joint morphology of placoderms
- 2021
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Ingår i: Canadian journal of earth sciences (Print). - : CANADIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING. - 0008-4077 .- 1480-3313. ; 58:1, s. 93-104
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Petalichthyid and "acanthothoracid" placoderms have taken pivotal positions in the debate on placoderm- and, by extension, jawed vertebrate - relationships owing to perceived similarities with certain jawless vertebrates. Neurocranial characters are integral to current hypotheses of early gnathostome relationships. Here, we describe the three-dimensionally preserved neurocranial anatomy of the petalichthyid placoderm Ellopetalichthys scheii (Kiaer, 1915), from the Middle Devonian (early Eifelian) of Ellesmere Island, Canada. Using X-ray computed microtomography, we generated three-dimensional reconstructions of the endocranial surfaces, orbital walls, and cranial endocavity. These reconstructions verify the absence of a crus commune of the skeletal labyrinth and the complex shape of the petalichthyid endolympathic duct. Details of the craniothoracic joint and occipital musculature fossae help resolve the problematic comparative anatomy of the occipital surface of petalichthyids. These new data highlight similarities with arthrodire placoderms, consistent with older hypotheses of a sister-group relationship between petalichthyids and that clade.
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- Jerve, Anna
(författare)
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Development and three-dimensional histology of vertebrate dermal fin spines
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Jawed vertebrates (gnathostomes) consist of two clades with living representatives, the chondricthyans (cartilaginous fish including sharks, rays, and chimaeras) and the osteichthyans (bony fish and tetrapods), and two fossil groups, the "placoderms" and "acanthodians". These extinct forms were thought to be monophyletic, but are now considered to be paraphyletic partly due to the discovery of early chondrichthyans and osteichthyans with characters that had been previously used to define them. Among these are fin spines, large dermal structures that, when present, sit anterior to both median and/or paired fins in many extant and fossil jawed vertebrates. Making comparisons among early gnathostomes is difficult since the early chondrichthyans and "acanthodians", which have less mineralized skeleton, do not have large dermal bones on their skulls. As a result, fossil fin spines are potential sources for phylogenetic characters that could help in the study of the gnathostome evolutionary history. This thesis examines the development and internal structure of fin spines in jawed vertebrates using two-dimensional (2D) thin sections and three-dimensional (3D) synchrotron datasets. The development of the dorsal fin spine of the holocephalan, Callorhinchus milii, was described from embryos and compared to that of the neoselachian, Squalus acanthias, whose spine has been the model for studying fossil shark spines. It was found that the development of the C. milii fin presents differences from S. acanthias that suggest it might be a better candidate for studying "acanthodian" fin spines. The 3D histology of fossil fin spines was studied in Romundina stellina, a "placoderm"; Lophosteus superbus, a probable stem-osteichthyan; and several "acanthodians". The 3D vascularization reconstructed from synchrotron radiation microtomographic data reveal that "acanthodian" and Lophosteus spines grew similarly to what is observed in chondrichthyans, which differs slightly from the growth of the Romundina spine. Chondrichthyans and "acanthodians" also share similarities in their internal organization. Overall, Lophosteus and Romundina spines are more similar in terms of morphology and histology compared to chondrichthyans and "acanthodians". These results support the current hypothesis of gnathostome phylogeny, which places "acanthodians" on the chondrichthyan stem. They also emphasize the need for further study of vertebrate fin spines using 3D approaches.
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- Jerve, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Embryonic development of fin spines in Callorhinchus milii (Holocephali); implications for chondrichthyan fin spine evolution
- 2014
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Ingår i: Evolution & Development. - : Wiley. - 1520-541X .- 1525-142X. ; 16:6, s. 339-353
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fin spines are commonly known from fossil gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates) and are usually associated with paired and unpaired fins. They are less common among extant gnathostomes, being restricted to the median fins of certain chondrichthyans (cartilaginous fish), including chimaerids (elephant sharks) and neoselachians (sharks, skates, and rays). Fin spine growth is of great interest and relevance but few studies have considered their evolution and development. We investigated the development of the fin spine of the chimaerid Callorhinchus milii using stained histological sections from a series of larval, hatchling, and adult individuals. The lamellar trunk dentine of the Callorhinchus spine first condenses within the mesenchyme, rather than at the contact surface between mesenchyme and epithelium, in a manner more comparable to dermal bone formation than to normal odontode development. Trabecular dentine forms a small component of the spine under the keel; it is covered externally with a thin layer of lamellar trunk dentine, which is difficult to distinguish in sectioned adult spines. We suggest that the distinctive characteristics of the trunk dentine may reflect an origin through co-option of developmental processes involved in dermal bone formation. Comparison with extant Squalus and a range of fossil chondrichthyans shows that Callorhinchus is more representative than Squalus of generalized chondrichthyan fin-spine architecture, highlighting its value as a developmental model organism.
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- Jerve, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Morphology and histology of acanthodian fin spines from the late Silurian Ramsåsa E locality, Skåne, Sweden
- 2017
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Ingår i: Palaeontologia Electronica. - : COQUINA PRESS. - 1935-3952 .- 1094-8074. ; 20:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Comparisons of acanthodians to extant gnathostomes are often hampered by the paucity of mineralized structures in their endoskeleton, which limits the potential preservation of phylogenetically informative traits. Fin spines, mineralized dermal structures that sit anterior to fins, are found on both stem-and crown-group gnathostomes, and represent an additional potential source of comparative data for studying acanthodian relationships with the other groups of early gnathostomes. An assemblage of isolated acanthodian fin spines from the late Silurian Ramsasa site E locality (southern Sweden) has been reconstructed in 3D using propagation phase contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography (PPC-SR mu CT). The aim is to provide morphological and taxo-nomical affinities for the spines by combining morphology and histology with the taxo-nomical framework previously established for the site mainly based on isolated scales. The high-resolution scans also enable investigations of the composition and growth of acanthodian fin spines when compared to similar studies of extinct and extant gnathostomes. In total, seven fin spine morphotypes that have affinities to both Climatiidae Berg 1940 and Ischnacanthiformes Berg 1940 are described. The majority are interpreted as median fin spines, but three possible paired spines are also identified. The spines display differences in their compositions, but generally agree with that presented for climatiids and ischnacanthiforms in previous studies. Their inferred growth modes appear to be more similar to those of fossil and extant chondrichthyan fin spines than to those described from placoderms and stem-osteichthyans, which is congruent with the emerging view of acanthodians as stem-chondrichthyans.
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- Jerve, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Three-dimensional paleohistology of the scale and median fin spine of Lophosteus superbus (Pander 1856)
- 2016
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Ingår i: PeerJ. - : PeerJ. - 2167-8359. ; 4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lophosteus superbus is one of only a handful of probable stem-group osteichthyans known from the fossil record. First collected and described in the late 19th century from the upper Silurian Saaremaa Cliff locality in Estonia, it is known from a wealth of disarticulated scales, fin spines, and bone fragments. In this study we provide the first description of the morphology and paleohistology of a fin spine and scale from Lophosteus using virtual thin sections and 3D reconstructions that were segmented using phase-contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography. These data reveal that both structures have fully or partially buried odontodes, which retain fine morphological details in older generations, including sharp nodes and serrated ridgelets. The vascular architecture of the fin spine tip, which is composed of several layers of longitudinally directed bone vascular canals, is much more complex compared to the bulbous horizontal canals within the scale, but they both have distinctive networks of ascending canals within each individual odontode. Other histological characteristics that can be observed from the data are cell spaces and Sharpey's fibers that, when combined with the vascularization, could help to provide insights into the growth of the structure. The 3D data of the scales from Lophosteus superbus is similar to comparable data from other fossil osteichthyans, and the morphology of the reconstructed buried odontodes from this species is identical to scale material of Lophosteus ohesaarensis, casting doubt on the validity of that species. The 3D data presented in this paper is the first for fossil fin spines and so comparable data is not yet available. However, the overall morphology and histology seems to be similar to the structure of placoderm dermal plates. The 3D datasets presented here provide show that microtomography is a powerful tool for investigating the three-dimensional microstructure of fossils, which is difficult to study using traditional histological methods. These results also increase the utility of fin spines and scales suggest that these data are a potentially rich source of morphological data that could be used for studying questions relating to early vertebrate growth and evolution.
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