Eotetrapodiformes
Live reconstruction of Eusthenopteron
- Worldwide
The Eotetrapodiformes (Greek: " eos " = Dawn Tetrapoda Lat: . " Formes " = shape, figure) are a taxon ( a systematic group) of meat -finned fishes ( Sarcopterygii ) in the sense of phylogenetic systematics, the land vertebrates ( Tetrapoda ) be reunited with their next fishy relatives. They include in addition to the terrestrial vertebrates, the Tristichopteridae, an extinct family of medium-sized to very large predatory fish from the middle and upper Devonian of the very well-studied genus Eusthenopteron, Platycephalichthys and Tinirau, as well as the Elpistostegalia associated with the terrestrial vertebrates most closely related fish-like vertebrates. Michael I. Coates & Matt Friedman defined the Eotetrapodiformes 2010 as a node-based taxon (node- based definition), which includes this ancestor with the last common ancestor of Eusthenopteron and Ichthyostega and all descendants.
The following cladogram shows the probable relationships ( Recent taxa in bold):
Elpistostegalia including terrestrial vertebrates ( Tetrapoda )
Platycephalichthys
Tinirau
Tristichopteridae
Megalichthyiformes
Rhizodontidae
Kenichthys
Lungfish ( Dipnoi )
Diabolepis
Characteristics had the fishy Eotetrapodiformes and the early land vertebrates together, are the Labyrinthodonts teeth that had a complicated folded dentine, the ossified ribs, a front palate windows, external and internal nares and a " Tetrapodengelenk ", consisting of a spherical version in Scapulocoracoid of shoulder girdle and a spherical portion toward the body lying ( proximal ) end of the humerus. The group designated above as clade A of the skull is more flattened, the eyes are more openings on top of the head and the unpaired fins ( dorsal and anal fin, the caudal fin but not initially ) no longer exist.
All fishy representatives of Eotetrapodiformes are extinct. The next extant fish relatives of land vertebrates are the lungfish ( Dipnoi ).