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The Origin of the Tetrapods
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2017
Extract
The origin of tetrapods is one of the longest standing (and still not fully resolved) fields in vertebrate evolution (Thomson, 1993). The discovery of living lungfishes in the nineteenth century sparked interest because of their apparent intermediate position between other kinds of fishes and amphibians. (As is well known, the South American lungfish Lepidosiren was actually first described as a degenerate amphibian.) The discovery of the Australian lungfish provided a direct link between a living form (a “living fossil” to use Darwin's term) and well-known Triassic fossils. The lungfishes therefore accorded well with Darwinian theory, just as did Archaeopteryx. The discovery of the living coelacanth Latimeria in 1938 continues to spark public interest (Thomson, 1991a).
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- Research Article
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- Short Courses in Paleontology , Volume 7: Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution , 1994 , pp. 85 - 107
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- Copyright © 1994 Paleontological Society
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