Palaeontology: Modern look for ancient lamprey
Article Abstract:
The oldest fossil lamprey to date is reported that calls for a reassessment of cyclostome evolution as they were assumed to be degenerate descendants of armored jawless vertebrates that lived from the Ordovician period to the Devonian period. Exceptional discoveries of Palaeozoic soft-bodied fishes such as Priscomyzon are of great value because the early segment of vertebrate evolution is documented only by fishes that lacked a mineralized skeleton.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2006
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Forerunners of four legs
Article Abstract:
The theory of the osteolpiform-tetrapod relationship was believed to be well established on anatomical grounds until recently, although the details are vague. Ahlberg and Johanson have provided evidence that osteolepiforms are not a monphyletic group, and that they are transitory, and are a mix of primitive tetrapodomorphs, a group that includes rhizodontids, eplistostegids and tetrapods.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1998
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A lamprey from the Devonian period of South Africa
Article Abstract:
A marine/estuarine fossil lamprey from the Famennian (Late Devonian) of South Africa is reported, where the identity is established easily because many of the key specializations of modern forms are already in place. The findings suggest that agnathans close to modern lampreys had evolved before the end of the Devonian period.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2006
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