Non-marine palaeoenvironment associated to the earliest tetrapod tracks

Qvarnström, Martin (author): Uppsala universitet,Evolution och utvecklingsbiologi

Szrek, Piotr (author): Natl Res Inst, Polish Geol Inst, Rakowiecka 4 St, PL-00075 Warsaw, Poland.

Ahlberg, Per E., 1963- (author): Uppsala universitet,Evolution och utvecklingsbiologi

Niedzwiedzki, Grzegorz, 1980- (author): Uppsala universitet,Evolution och utvecklingsbiologi

(creator_code:org_t)

2018-01-18
2018
English.
In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 8

Related links:: https://www.nature.c...; show more...; https://urn.kb.se/re...; https://doi.org/10.1...; show less...

Abstract Subject headings

Opinions differ on whether the evolution of tetrapods (limbed vertebrates) from lobe-finned fishes was directly linked to terrestrialization. The earliest known tetrapod fossils, from the Middle Devonian (approximately 390 million years old) of Zachelmie Quarry in Poland, are trackways made by limbs with digits; they document a direct environmental association and thus have the potential to help answer this question. However, the tetrapod identity of the tracks has recently been challenged, despite their well-preserved morphology, on account of their great age and supposedly shallow marine (intertidal or lagoonal) depositional environment. Here we present a new palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the track-bearing interval from Zachelmie, showing that it represents a succession of ephemeral lakes with a restricted and non-marine biota, rather than a marginal marine environment as originally thought. This context suggests that the trackmaker was capable of terrestrial locomotion, consistent with the appendage morphology recorded by the footprints, and thus provides additional support for a tetrapod identification.

By the author/editor: Qvarnström, Mart ...; Szrek, Piotr; Ahlberg, Per E., ...; Niedzwiedzki, Gr ...

About the subject

NATURAL SCIENCES: NATURAL SCIENCES; and Biological Scien ...; and Evolutionary Bio ...

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