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The origin and early diversification of tetrapods

Abstract

A series of new fossil discoveries, coupled with cladistic analysis of old and new data, is beginning to resolve the origin of tetrapods into a documented sequence of character acquisition. Devonian tetrapods were more fish-like than believed previously, whereas Lower Carboniferous tetrapod faunas contain early representatives of the amphibian and amniote lineages. These very different assemblages are separated by a 20-million-year Tournaisian gap' which has yielded very few tetrapod fossils.

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Ahlberg, P., Milner, A. The origin and early diversification of tetrapods. Nature 368, 507–514 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/368507a0

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