[dinosaur] Parmastega, new early tetrapod from Devonian of Russia

Ben Creisler
[email protected]

A new paper:


Parmastega aelidae gen. et sp. nov.

Pavel A. Beznosov, Jennifer A. Clack, Ervīns Lukševičs, Marcello Ruta & Per
Erik Ahlberg  (2019)
Morphology of the earliest reconstructable tetrapod Parmastega aelidae.
Nature 574: 527-531
DOI: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1038_s41586-2D019-2D1636-2Dy&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=QwJcF4SQCAgiH4kyycLXk9bvHJXtA4uFybAhcQDr1P4&s=T9-rNxIYFDQVLZdPaPlP98KVlD9HDMo4SbkYXfuFqEM&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nature.com_articles_s41586-2D019-2D1636-2Dy&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=QwJcF4SQCAgiH4kyycLXk9bvHJXtA4uFybAhcQDr1P4&s=6rq-sNTYntlJYdK-VFYjKg1P_TZ9Ewsm__39uVVAIf8&e= 

The known diversity of tetrapods of the Devonian period has increased
markedly in recent decades, but their fossil record consists mostly of
tantalizing fragments. 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. 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, and nearly 30 million years younger than the oldest known
tetrapod footprints. 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.

===

Commentary:

Nadia B. Fröbisch & Florian Witzmann (2019)
Early tetrapods had an eye on the land.
Nature 574: 494-495
doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-03107-0
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nature.com_articles_d41586-2D019-2D03107-2D0&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=QwJcF4SQCAgiH4kyycLXk9bvHJXtA4uFybAhcQDr1P4&s=PzpHHYtHXgy5eXaS_efC5CPQSYYNSZb4pdZbcClBAgE&e= 
Free pdf:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nature.com_magazine-2Dassets_d41586-2D019-2D03107-2D0_d41586-2D019-2D03107-2D0.pdf&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=QwJcF4SQCAgiH4kyycLXk9bvHJXtA4uFybAhcQDr1P4&s=RP1erhB2-TOcdM9R0-4Zpeyx_MAvYufVDcdw5dVOBCg&e= 

Fossil finds that can provide clues about how aquatic vertebrates evolved
into land dwellers are elusive. But the ancient bones of a newly discovered
species of tetrapod now provide some crucial missing evidence.

======

News:

The earliest well-preserved tetrapod may never have left the water

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__phys.org_news_2019-2D10-2Dearliest-2Dwell-2Dpreserved-2Dtetrapod-2Dleft.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=QwJcF4SQCAgiH4kyycLXk9bvHJXtA4uFybAhcQDr1P4&s=5uHBLQFOP3SE2YNp0Tve9vNyVBHVCf74WeTrVKt1Zwg&e= 


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