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 (often spelled Panderichthyida) was considered an
order of prehistoric
lobe-finned fishes, it was
cladistically redefined to include tetrapods.[7]
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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10][11]
Being shallow-water fishes, the elpistostegalians evolved many of the basic adaptions that later allowed the tetrapods to become terrestrial animals. The most important ones were the shift of main propulsion apparatus from the tail fin to the pectoral and pelvic fins, and a shift to reliance on lungs rather than gills as the main means of obtaining oxygen.[12] Both of these appear to be a direct result of moving to an inland freshwater mode of living.[13]
Fossils of Panderichthys are dated to the
Givetian (around 385 million years old) or the
Frasnian (around 380–375 million years old[14]).[1] Thus, the oldest bone remains of elpistostegalians appear in the late Middle Devonian or in the early Late Devonian. However,
a series of trace fossils from the early Middle Devonian of Poland suggests that tetrapod-limbed animals may have existed as early as in the
Eifelian, around 395 million years ago.[2]
Traits
Paleontologist and professor
Per E. Ahlberg has identified the following traits as
synapomorphic for Elpistostegalia (and thus Tetrapoda):[15]
The anal and posterior dorsal fin supported by a basal plate and three unjointed radials.
The pectoral fin skeleton is composed of bones homologous to the tetrapod
humerus,
ulna, and
radius, followed by a host of smaller bones anchoring the fin rays; the pelvic fin skeleton similarly has
femur,
tibia, and
fibula.
The 2020 study by Cloutier et al. revealed that the paired fins of Elpistostege contained bones
homologous to the
phalanges (digit bones) of modern
tetrapods. The analysis carried out in this study recovered Elpistostege as the sister taxon of all unequivocally digited vertebrates.[17]
^
abLebedev, O. A.; Clément, G. (2018). "New tetrapodomorph vertebrates from the Yam-Tesovo locality (Amata Regional Stage, Middle–Upper Devonian) of Leningrad Region, northwestern Russia". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 109 (1–2): 61–73.
doi:
10.1017/S1755691018000907.
^Chang, M.-M.; Yu, X. (1997). "Reexamination of the relationship of Middle Devonian osteolepids–fossil characters and their interpretations". American Museum Novitates (3189): 1–20.