Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

A lamprey from the Devonian period of South Africa

Abstract

Lampreys are the most scientifically accessible of the remaining jawless vertebrates, but their evolutionary history is obscure. In contrast to the rich fossil record of armoured jawless fishes, all of which date from the Devonian period and earlier1,2,3, only two Palaeozoic lampreys have been recorded, both from the Carboniferous period1. In addition to these, the recent report of an exquisitely preserved Lower Cretaceous example4 demonstrates that anatomically modern lampreys were present by the late Mesozoic era. Here we report a marine/estuarine fossil lamprey from the Famennian (Late Devonian) of South Africa5,6, the identity of which is established easily because many of the key specializations of modern forms are already in place. These specializations include the first evidence of a large oral disc, the first direct evidence of circumoral teeth and a well preserved branchial basket. This small agnathan, Priscomyzon riniensis gen. et sp. nov., is not only more conventionally lamprey-like than other Palaeozoic examples7,8, but is also some 35 million years older. This finding is evidence that agnathans close to modern lampreys had evolved before the end of the Devonian period. In this light, lampreys as a whole appear all the more remarkable: ancient specialists that have persisted as such and survived a subsequent 360 million years.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Holotype of Priscomyzon riniensis gen. et sp. nov.
Figure 2: Reconstruction of Priscomyzon riniensis , illustrating tadpole-like body proportions and large oral disc, compared with post-metamorphic modern lamprey, Lampetra fluviatilis.
Figure 3: Cladograms showing the hypothesized position of Priscomyzon among early craniates.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Janvier, P. Early Vertebrates (Clarendon, Oxford, 1996)

  2. Donoghue, P. C. J. & Smith, M. P. The anatomy of Turinia pagei (Powrie), and the phylogenetic status of the Thelodonti. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sci. 92, 15–37 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Janvier, P., Desbiens, S., Willett, J. A. & Arsenault, M. Lamprey-like gills in a gnathostome-related Devonian jawless vertebrate. Nature 440, 1183–1185 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Chang, M.-m., Zhang, J. & Miao, D. A lamprey from the Cretaceous Jehol biota of China. Nature 441, 972–974 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Anderson, H. M., Hiller, N. & Gess, R. W. Archaeopteris (Progymnospermopsida) from the Devonian of southern Africa. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 117, 305–320 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hiller, N. & Taylor, F. F. Late Devonian shore line changes: an analysis of Witteberg Group stratigraphy in the Grahamstown area. South Afr. J. Geol. 95, 203–212 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bardack, D. & Zangerl, R. First fossil lamprey: a record from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois. Science 162, 1265–1267 (1968)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bardack, D. & Zangerl, R. in The Biology of Lampreys Vol. 1 (eds Hardisty, M. W. & Potter, I. C.) 67–84 (Academic, London, 1971)

  9. Hardisty, M. W. in The Biology of Lampreys (eds Hardisty, M. W. & Potter, I. C.) 3, 333–376 (Academic, London, 1981)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Janvier, P. & Lund, R. Hardistiella montanensis n. gen. et sp. (Petromyzontidae) from the Lower Carboniferous of Montana with remarks on the affinities of the Lampreys. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 2, 407–413 (1983)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Bardack, D. & Richardson, E. S. Jr. New agnathous fishes from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois. Fieldiana Geology 33, 489–510 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Shu, D-G. et al. Lower Cambrian vertebrates from south China. Nature 402, 42–46 (1999)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hubbs, C. L. & Potter, I. C. in The Biology of Lampreys Vol. 1 (eds Hardisty, M. W. & Potter, I. C.) 1–66 (Academic, London, 1971)

  14. Yalden, D. Feeding mechanisms as evidence for cyclostome monophyly. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 84, 291–300 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Janvier, P. in Recent Advances in the Origin and Early Radiation of Vertebrates (eds Arratia, G., Wilson, V. H. & Schultze, H. P.) 29–52 (Dr Friedrich Pfeil, Munchen, 2004)

  16. Lund, R. & Janvier, P. A second Lamprey from the Lower Carboniferous (Namurian) of Bear Gulch, Montana (U.S.A.). Geobios 19, 647–652 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Janvier, P. The dawn of the vertebrates: characters versus common ascent in the rise of current vertebrate phylogenies. Palaeontology 39, 259–287 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Donoghue, P. C. J., Forey, P. & Aldridge, R. J. Conodont affinity and chordate phylogeny. Biol. Rev. 75, 191–251 (2000)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Delarbre, C., Gallut, C., Barriel, V., Janvier, P. & Gachelin, G. Complete mitochondrial DNA of the hagfish, Eptatretus burgeri: The comparative analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences strongly supports the cyclostome monophyly. Mol. Phylo. Evol. 22, 184–192 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Forey, P. & Janvier, P. Agnathans and the origin of jawed vertebrates. Nature 361, 129–134 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Janvier, P. & Arsenault, M. Palaeobiology: Calcification of early vertebrate cartilage. Nature 417, 609 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Swofford, D. L. PAUP*: Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (* and other methods), version 4.0b10 (Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 2003)

  23. Shu, D-G. et al. Head and backbone of the Early Cambrian vertebrate Haikouichthys.. Nature 421, 526–529 (2003)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Eldredge, N. in Living Fossils (eds Eldredge, N. & Stanley, S. M.) 272–277 (Springer, New York, 1984)

  25. Cohn, M. J. Evolutionary biology: Lamprey Hox genes and the origin of jaws. Nature 416, 386–387 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Takio, Y. et al. Evolutionary biology: Lamprey Hox genes and the evolution of jaws. Nature 429 doi: 10.1038/nature02616 (2004)

  27. Pancer, Z. et al. Somatic diversification of variable lymphocyte receptors in the agnathan lamprey. Nature 430, 174–180 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Hardisty, M. W. & Potter, I. C. in The Biology of Lampreys Vol. 1 (eds Hardisty, M. W. & Potter, I. C.) 127–206 (Academic, London, 1971)

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to B. de Klerk for his continuing support, and thank M. A. Purnel, R. J. Aldridge and M. M. Chang for advice and discussions. Work by R.W.G. and B.S.R. is supported by the Palaeontological Scientific Trust (PAST), National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of South Africa, and that of M.I.C. by the Faculty Research Fund of the University of Chicago. Author Contributions The discovery, identification, diagnosis and morphological description of the specimen are primarily the work of R.W.G. Phylogenetic analysis was performed by M.I.C., as well as final drafting of the paper. The research was supervised by B.S.R. All authors read, commented on and contributed to all parts of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert W. Gess.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Reprints and permissions information is available at www.nature.com/reprints. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Notes

This file contains Supplementary Information on photographic methods used as well as information relevant to the phylogenetic analysis. This latter includes notes on taxa selected, characters, character re-weighting, enforced constraints and a reduced taxon subset, in addition to two supplementary trees, a character list and a data set. (DOC 86 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gess, R., Coates, M. & Rubidge, B. A lamprey from the Devonian period of South Africa. Nature 443, 981–984 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05150

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05150

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing