A supertree of early tetrapods

Ruta, Marcello; Jeffery, Jonathan E.; Coates, Michael I.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2524

Cited by 61 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…(a) Input trees Temnospondyl phylogenies (see appendix 1a in the electronic supplementary material) were chosen according to several criteria (Ruta et al 2003;Bininda-Emonds et al 2004). First, current knowledge of the large-scale interrelationships of temnospondyls relies extensively on Milner's (1990) overarching family-level study, which was therefore selected as the starting point for our survey.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A supertree of Temnospondyli: cladogenetic patterns in the most species-rich group of early tetrapods

et al. 2007

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As the most diverse group of early tetrapods, temnospondyls provide a unique opportunity to investigate cladogenetic patterns among basal limbed vertebrates. We present five species-level supertrees for temnospondyls, built using a variety of methods. The standard MRP majority rule consensus including minority components shows slightly greater resolution than other supertrees, and its shape matches well several currently accepted hypotheses of higher-level phylogeny for temnospondyls as a whole. Also, its node support is higher than those of other supertrees (except the combined standard plus Purvis MRP supertree). We explore the distribution of significant as well as informative changes (shifts) in branch splitting employing the standard MRP supertree as a reference, and discuss the temporal distribution of changes in time-sliced, pruned trees derived from this supertree. Also, we analyse those shifts that are most relevant to the end-Permian mass extinction. For the Palaeozoic, shifts occur almost invariably along branches that connect major Palaeozoic groups. By contrast, shifts in the Mesozoic occur predominantly within major groups. Numerous shifts bracket narrowly the end-Permian extinction, indicating not only rapid recovery and extensive diversification of temnospondyls over a short time period after the extinction event (possibly less than half a million years), but also the role of intense cladogenesis in the late part of the Permian (although this was counteracted by numerous 'background' extinctions).

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A supertree of Temnospondyli: cladogenetic patterns in the most species-rich group of early tetrapods

et al. 2007

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…At node 2 (Eotetrapodiformes), the ventral process of the radius appeared, indicating separation of radial and ulnar/distal fin flexors. At node 3 (Elpistostegalia), the Ruta et al (2003) and Ruta (2011). See text for specific osteological correlates.…”

Section: Reconstruction Of Pectoral Appendicular Muscles In the Lcmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The phylogeny used for character mapping was based on Ruta, Jeffery & Coates (2003) and Ruta (2011) because their analysis was most complete in terms of taxon sampling. An alternative phylogeny based on Ahlberg et al (2008) was also tested, but this affected the results only slightly, as described below.…”

Section: Reconstruction Of Pectoral Appendicular Muscles In the Lcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing pectoral appendicular muscle anatomy in fossil fish and tetrapods over the fins‐to‐limbs transition

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The question of how tetrapod limbs evolved from fins is one of the great puzzles of evolutionary biology. While palaeontologists, developmental biologists, and geneticists have made great strides in explaining the origin and early evolution of limb skeletal structures, that of the muscles remains largely unknown. The main reason is the lack of consensus about appendicular muscle homology between the closest living relatives of early tetrapods: lobe-finned fish and crown tetrapods. In the light of a recent study of these homologies, we re-examined osteological correlates of muscle attachment in the pectoral girdle, humerus, radius, and ulna of early tetrapods and their close relatives. Twenty-nine extinct and six extant sarcopterygians were included in a meta-analysis using information from the literature and from original specimens, when possible. We analysed these osteological correlates using parsimony-based character optimization in order to reconstruct muscle anatomy in ancestral lobe-finned fish, tetrapodomorph fish, stem tetrapods, and crown tetrapods. Our synthesis revealed that many tetrapod shoulder muscles probably were already present in tetrapodomorph fish, while most of the more-distal appendicular muscles either arose later from largely undifferentiated dorsal and ventral muscle masses or did not leave clear correlates of attachment in these taxa. Based on this review and meta-analysis, we postulate a stepwise sequence of specific appendicular muscle acquisitions, splits, and fusions that led from the ancestral sarcopterygian pectoral fin to the ancestral tetrapod forelimb. This sequence largely agrees with previous hypotheses based on palaeontological and comparative work, but it is much more comprehensive in terms of both muscles and taxa. Combined with existing information about the skeletal system, our new synthesis helps to illuminate the genetic, developmental, morphological, functional, and ecological changes that were key components of the fins-to-limbs transition.

show abstract

“…Stem-and crowngroup attributions differ in recent analyses of early tetrapod interrelationships. Here, we follow broadly the scheme of relationships in [22], with amendments and additions from [23][24][25][26]. Jaw orientation and descriptive terminology conform to [23,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding biomechanics inAcanthostegaand across the fish–tetrapod transition

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Acanthostega is one of the earliest and most primitive limbed vertebrates. Its numerous fish-like features indicate a primarily aquatic lifestyle, yet cranial suture morphology suggests that its skull is more similar to those of terrestrial taxa. Here, we apply geometric morphometrics and two-dimensional finite-element analysis to the lower jaws of Acanthostega and 22 other tetrapodomorph taxa in order to quantify morphological and functional changes across the fish -tetrapod transition. The jaw of Acanthostega is similar to that of certain tetrapodomorph fish and transitional Devonian taxa both morphologically (as indicated by its proximity to those taxa in morphospace) and functionally (as indicated by the distribution of stress values and relative magnitude of bite force). Our results suggest a slow tempo of morphological and biomechanical changes in the transition from Devonian tetrapod jaws to aquatic/semi-aquatic Carboniferous tetrapod jaws. We conclude that Acanthostega retained a primitively aquatic lifestyle and did not possess cranial adaptations for terrestrial feeding.

show abstract

A supertree of early tetrapods

Cited by 61 publications

References 41 publications

A supertree of Temnospondyli: cladogenetic patterns in the most species-rich group of early tetrapods

A supertree of Temnospondyli: cladogenetic patterns in the most species-rich group of early tetrapods

Reconstructing pectoral appendicular muscle anatomy in fossil fish and tetrapods over the fins‐to‐limbs transition

Feeding biomechanics inAcanthostegaand across the fish–tetrapod transition

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About