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Evolution

Teenage tetrapods

Nature volume 537, pages 311–312 (2016)Cite this article

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Bone analysis of aquatic tetrapods from around the time when these four-limbed vertebrates began to move onto land reveals that the large specimens were only juveniles, raising questions about how these animals developed. See Letter p.408

One of the most fascinating topics in vertebrate evolution is the transition of finned fish to four-limbed tetrapods. This transition involved changes to many aspects of the biology of our fish ancestors, including their respiration, waste removal and skeletal system1. The evolution of the limb, which eventually led to our own arms and legs, was a prerequisite for tetrapods' conquest of the land and ability to evolve the amazing variety of body forms and means of locomotion observed in both extinct and modern vertebrates. Given the pivotal role of this move onto land, the anatomical transformations involved have been a major focus of research, not only in palaeontological studies, but also in studies of evolutionary developmental biology and the relationship between anatomical structures and their function2,3. A paper on page 408 by Sanchez et al.4 reveals insights into growth patterns of the early tetrapod Acanthostega. Their results will provide a deeper understanding of the development and evolution of our four-legged forerunners.

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Figure 1: Possible developmental pathways in the tetrapod Acanthostega.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nadia B. Fröbisch is at the Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, 10115 Berlin, Germany.,

    Nadia B. Fröbisch

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  1. Nadia B. Fröbisch
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Correspondence to Nadia B. Fröbisch.

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Evolutionary biology: Fin to limb within our grasp

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Fröbisch, N. Teenage tetrapods. Nature 537, 311–312 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19432

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