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A Mississippian (early Carboniferous) tetrapod showing early diversification of the hindlimbs.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Clack, Jennifer A 
Smithson, Timothy R  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6546-1145

Abstract

The taxonomically diverse terrestrial tetrapod fauna from the late Mississippian East Kirkton Limestone includes the earliest known members of stem Amphibia and stem Amniota. Here we name and describe a new East Kirkton tetrapod with an unusual hindlimb morphology reminiscent of that of several stem- and primitive crown amniotes. It displays a unique ilium with two slender and elongate processes and a 5-digit pes with a long, stout metatarsal IV and a greatly elongate digit IV. The new taxon broadens our knowledge of East Kirkton tetrapods, adding to the remarkable diversity of their hindlimb constructions, functional specializations, locomotory modes, and adaptations to a wide variety of substrates. An unweighted character parsimony analysis places the new taxon in a polytomy alongside some other Carboniferous groups. Conversely, weighted parsimony and Bayesian analyses retrieve it among the earliest diverging stem amniotes, either as the basalmost anthracosaur or within a clade that includes also Eldeceeon and Silvanerpeton, crownward of an array of chroniosaurs plus anthracosaurs.

Description

Keywords

Animals, Bayes Theorem, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Hindlimb, Phylogeny

Journal Title

Commun Biol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2399-3642
2399-3642

Volume Title

5

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
John Templeton Foundation (JTF) (61408)