Eotetrapodiformes
Eotetrapodiformes is an unranked clade of tetrapodomorphs including the four-limbed vertebrates ("tetrapods" in the traditional sense) and their closest fish fin, finned relatives, two groups of stem tetrapods called tristichopterids and elpistostegalids. Description This clade is defined as "the node-based clade arising from the most recent common ancestor of ''Eusthenopteron'' and ''Ichthyostega'' plus all of its descendants," for their litany of shared morphological characteristics, such as similarities in their lower jaws and Endocranium, endocrania. Utilizing the holotype FMNH PF 610 of the Sarcopterygii, sarcopterygian ''Litoptychus bryanti,'' paleontologists highlighted the division between the Ethmoid bone, ethmoid and Sphenoid bone, sphenoid processes, as well as vomeral and parasphenoid processes similar to those of more derived tetrapods. Eotetrapodiformes are considered a sister taxon to Megalichthyiformes and Rhizodontida. History The clade was named in 2010 by M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tetrapodomorph
Tetrapodomorpha (also known as Choanata) is a clade of vertebrates consisting of tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates) and their closest sarcopterygian relatives that are more closely related to living tetrapods than to living lungfish. Advanced forms transitional between fish and the early labyrinthodonts, such as '' Tiktaalik'', have been referred to as "fishapods" by their discoverers, being half-fish, half-tetrapods, in appearance and limb morphology. The Tetrapodomorpha contains the crown group tetrapods (the last common ancestor of living tetrapods and all of its descendants) and several groups of early stem tetrapods, which includes several groups of related lobe-finned fishes, collectively known as the osteolepiforms. The Tetrapodomorpha minus the crown group Tetrapoda are the stem Tetrapoda, a paraphyletic unit encompassing the fish to tetrapod transition. Characteristics Among the characteristics defining tetrapodomorphs are modifications to the fins, notably a hum ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Platycephalichthys
''Platycephalichthys'' is a genus of tristichopterid lobe-finned fish which lived during the Upper Devonian, Frasnian stage. Phylogeny Below is a cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ... from Swartz, 2012: See also * References Prehistoric lobe-finned fish genera Eotetrapodiformes Devonian bony fish {{paleo-lobefinned-fish-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tinirau Clackae
''Tinirau'' is an extinct genus of sarcopterygian fish from the Middle Devonian of Nevada. Although it spent its entire life in the ocean, ''Tinirau'' is a stem tetrapod close to the ancestry of land-living vertebrates in the crown group Tetrapoda. Relative to more well-known stem tetrapods, ''Tinirau'' is more closely related to Tetrapoda than is ''Eusthenopteron'', but farther from Tetrapoda than is ''Panderichthys''. The type and only species of ''Tinirau'' is ''T. clackae'', named in 2012. Description ''Tinirau'' was a fairly large, predatory fish about a meter long and with a deep, compact body. The head was large, with a large terminal mouth and numerous teeth. The tail was heterocercal. The remaining fins with the exception of the pectoral fins were situated behind the middle of the body similar to the situation seen in pikes, giving the animal a large tail surface suitable for great bursts of speed. It shares many advanced features with later tetrapodomorphs in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elpistostegalia
Elpistostegalia is a clade containing ''Panderichthys'' and all more derived Tetrapodomorpha, tetrapodomorph taxa. The earliest elpistostegalians, combining fishlike and tetrapod-like characters, such as ''Tiktaalik'', are sometimes called fishapods. Although historically Elpistostegalia (referred to as Panderichthyida) was considered an Order (biology), order of prehistoric Sarcopterygii, lobe-finned fishes, it was Cladistics, cladistically redefined to include tetrapods. Paleobiology A rise in global oxygen content allowed for the evolution of large, predatory fish that were able to exploit the shallow tidal areas and swamplands as top predators. Several groups evolved to fill these niches, the most successful were the elpistiostegalians. In such environments, they would have been challenged by periodic oxygen deficiency. In comparable modern aquatic environments like shallow eutrophic lakes and swampland, modern lungfish and some genera of catfish also rely on the more stable ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elpistostegalid
Elpistostegalia is a clade containing ''Panderichthys'' and all more derived tetrapodomorph taxa. The earliest elpistostegalians, combining fishlike and tetrapod-like characters, such as ''Tiktaalik'', are sometimes called fishapods. Although historically Elpistostegalia (referred to as Panderichthyida) was considered an order of prehistoric lobe-finned fishes, it was cladistically redefined to include tetrapods. Paleobiology A rise in global oxygen content allowed for the evolution of large, predatory fish that were able to exploit the shallow tidal areas and swamplands as top predators. Several groups evolved to fill these niches, the most successful were the elpistiostegalians. In such environments, they would have been challenged by periodic oxygen deficiency. In comparable modern aquatic environments like shallow eutrophic lakes and swampland, modern lungfish and some genera of catfish also rely on the more stable, atmospheric source of oxygen. Being shallow-water fishes, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sarcopterygii
Sarcopterygii (; )—sometimes considered synonymous with Crossopterygii ()—is a clade (traditionally a class (biology), class or subclass) of vertebrate animals which includes a group of bony fish commonly referred to as lobe-finned fish. These vertebrates are characterised by prominent muscular limb buds (lobes) within their fish fin, fins, which are supported by articulated appendicular skeletons. This is in contrast to the other clade of bony fish, the Actinopterygii, which have only skin-covered lepidotrichia, bony spines supporting the fins. The tetrapods, a mostly terrestrial animal, terrestrial clade of vertebrates, are now recognized as having evolved from sarcopterygian ancestors and are most closely related to lungfishes. Their paired pectoral fins, pectoral and pelvic fins evolved into limb (anatomy), limbs, and their lung bud, foregut diverticulum eventually evolved into air-breathing lungs. Cladistics, Cladistically, this would make the tetrapods a subgroup within ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tetrapod
A tetrapod (; from Ancient Greek :wiktionary:τετρα-#Ancient Greek, τετρα- ''(tetra-)'' 'four' and :wiktionary:πούς#Ancient Greek, πούς ''(poús)'' 'foot') is any four-Limb (anatomy), limbed vertebrate animal of the clade Tetrapoda (). Tetrapods include all Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, extant and Extinction, extinct amphibians and amniotes, with the latter in turn Evolution, evolving into two major clades, the Sauropsida, sauropsids (reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids (extinct pelycosaur, "pelycosaurs", therapsids and all extant mammals, including Homo sapiens, humans). Hox gene mutations have resulted in some tetrapods becoming Limbless vertebrate, limbless (snakes, legless lizards, and caecilians) or two-limbed (cetaceans, sirenians, Bipedidae, some lizards, kiwi (bird), kiwis, and the extinct moa and elephant birds). Nevertheless, they still qualify as tetrapods through their ancestry, and some retain a pair of ves ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parasphenoid
The parasphenoid is a bone which can be found in the cranium of many vertebrates. It is an unpaired dermal bone which lies at the midline of the roof of the mouth. In many reptiles (including birds), it fuses to the endochondral (cartilage-derived) basisphenoid bone of the lower braincase, forming a bone known as the parabasisphenoid. Early mammals have a small parasphenoid, but for the most part its function has been replaced by the vomer bone. The parasphenoid has been lost in placental mammals and caecilian amphibians. See also *Ossification of frontal bone *Terms for anatomical location Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek language, Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. Thi ... References Bones of the head and neck {{musculoskeletal-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sphenoid Bone
The sphenoid bone is an unpaired bone of the neurocranium. It is situated in the middle of the skull towards the front, in front of the basilar part of occipital bone, basilar part of the occipital bone. The sphenoid bone is one of the seven bones that articulate to form the orbit (anatomy), orbit. Its shape somewhat resembles that of a butterfly, bat or wasp with its wings extended. The name presumably originates from this shape, since () means in Ancient Greek. Structure It is divided into the following parts: * a median portion, known as the body of sphenoid bone, containing the sella turcica, which houses the pituitary gland as well as the paired paranasal sinuses, the sphenoidal sinuses * two Greater wing of sphenoid bone, greater wings on the lateral side of the body and two Lesser wing of sphenoid bone, lesser wings from the anterior side. * Pterygoid processes of the sphenoides, directed downwards from the junction of the body and the greater wings. Two sphenoidal co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vomer
The vomer (; ) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxillary bones. The vomer forms the inferior part of the nasal septum in humans, with the superior part formed by the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid bone. The name is derived from the Latin word for a ploughshare and the shape of the bone. In humans The vomer is situated in the median plane, but its anterior portion is frequently bent to one side. It is thin, somewhat quadrilateral in shape, and forms the hinder and lower part of the nasal septum; it has two surfaces and four borders. The surfaces are marked by small furrows for blood vessels, and on each is the nasopalatine groove, which runs obliquely downward and forward, and lodges the nasopalatine nerve and vessels. Borders The ''superior border'', the thickest, presents a deep furrow, bounded on eith ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Middle Devonian
In the geological timescale, the Middle Devonian epoch (from 393.3 ± 1.2 million years ago to 382.7 ± 1.6 million years ago) occurred during the Devonian period, after the end of the Emsian age. The Middle Devonian epoch is subdivided into two stages: Eifelian and Givetian. Life in the Middle Devonian In the middle Devonian the armored jawless fish known as ostracoderms were declining in diversity and instead the jawed fish were thriving and increasing in diversity in both the oceans and freshwater. The shallow, warm, oxygen-depleted waters of Devonian inland lakes, surrounded by primitive plants, provided the environment necessary for certain early fish to develop essential characteristics such as well developed lungs, ability to crawl out of the water and onto the land for short periods of time, possibly in search of food which would be developed by the tetrapods later in the Late Devonian which are descendents of these early fish. The earliest forest grew in the Middle De ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |