Gaiasia: a late survivor of a basal tetrapod radiation
Marsicano et al 2024 brings us
a ‘giant stem tetrapod’ named Gaiasia (Early Permian, skull length 60cm, Fig 1).
Figure 1. Gaiasia illustration from Mariscano et al 2024. Colors added here. Shown to scale with Early Carboniferous Trypanognathus, a basal tetrapod in the LRT.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/gaiasia-jennyae-skull588.jpg?w=198″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/gaiasia-jennyae-skull588.jpg?w=584″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” class=”size-full wp-image-88240″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/gaiasia-jennyae-skull588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Gaiasia illustration from Mariscano et al 2024. Colors added here. Shown to scale with Early Carboniferous Trypanognathus, a basal tetrapod in the LRT.” width=”584″ height=”884″ />
Figure 1. Gaiasia illustration from Mariscano et al 2024. Colors added here. Shown to scale with Early Carboniferous Trypanognathus, a basal tetrapod in the LRT.
The specimen lacks
a pineal foramen and pterygoid teeth. The prefrontal contacts the maxilla, overlapping the lacrimal. The basipterygoid is massive. The rest of the skull is relatively light in weight. The palatal fangs interlocked.
Figure 1. Vertebrates at the transition from stem-tetrapod to tetrapod in the LRT. Trypanognathus is the most primitive known tetrapod in the LRT, despite its late appearance in the latest Carboniferous.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/panderichthys_trypanognathus_ventral588.jpg?w=82″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/panderichthys_trypanognathus_ventral588.jpg?w=279″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” class=”size-full wp-image-55078″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/panderichthys_trypanognathus_ventral588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Vertebrates at the transition from stem-tetrapod to tetrapod in the LRT. Trypanognathus is the most primitive known tetrapod in the LRT, despite its late appearance in the latest Carboniferous.” width=”584″ height=”2145″ />
Figure 2. Vertebrates at the transition from stem-tetrapod to tetrapod in the LRT. Trypanognathus is the most primitive known tetrapod in the LRT, despite its late appearance in the latest Carboniferous.
Limb material is not preserved.
The related Trypanognathus (Figs 1, 2) has feeble limbs that had just evolved from the little fins of a larger ancestor, Panderichthys (Fig 2). The authors compared their find to more fish-like colosteids, like Pholidogaster, which also has tiny limbs. Trypanognathus is not listed as a tested taxon in the authors’ cladogram, which does not resemble the cladogram in the LRT largely due to taxon exclusion.
The fossil is named for the Gai-as Formation in Namibia
and for Jenny Clack, a paleontologist who specialized in the evolution of early tetrapods
References
Marsicano CA et al (6 co-authors) 2024. Giant stem tetrapod was apex predator in Gondwanan late Palaeozoic ice age. Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07572-0
Publicity
sci.news/paleontology/gaiasia-jennyae-13074.html
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2024/08/15/gaiasia-a-late-survivor-of-a-basal-tetrapod-radiation/
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