Morphology of the earliest reconstructable tetrapod Parmastega aelidae.

Abstract

The known diversity of tetrapods of the Devonian period has increased markedly in recent decades, but their fossil record consists mostly of tantalizing fragments^1-15. The framework for interpreting the morphology and palaeobiology of Devonian tetrapods is dominated by the near complete fossils of Ichthyostega and Acanthostega; the less complete, but partly reconstructable, Ventastega and Tulerpeton have supporting roles^2,4,16-34. All four of these genera date to the late Famennian age (about 365-359 million years ago)-they are 10 million years younger than the earliest known tetrapod fragments^5,10, and nearly 30 million years younger than the oldest known tetrapod footprints³⁵. Here we describe Parmastega aelidae gen. et sp. nov., a tetrapod from Russia dated to the earliest Famennian age (about 372 million years ago), represented by three-dimensional material that enables the reconstruction of the skull and shoulder girdle. The raised orbits, lateral line canals and weakly ossified postcranial skeleton of P. aelidae suggest a largely aquatic, surface-cruising animal. In Bayesian and parsimony-based phylogenetic analyses, the majority of trees place Parmastega as a sister group to all other tetrapods.