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Morphology of the earliest reconstructable tetrapod Parmastega aelidae.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Beznosov, Pavel A 
Clack, Jennifer A 
Lukševičs, Ervīns 
Ruta, Marcello 
Ahlberg, Per Erik 

Abstract

The known diversity of tetrapods of the Devonian period has increased markedly in recent decades, but their fossil record consists mostly of tantalizing fragments1-15. 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 roles2,4,16-34. 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 fragments5,10, and nearly 30 million years younger than the oldest known tetrapod footprints35. 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.

Description

Keywords

Animals, Bayes Theorem, Fossils, Palate, Phylogeny, Russia, Skull, Vertebrates

Journal Title

Nature

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0028-0836
1476-4687

Volume Title

574

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Rights

All rights reserved