Ahlberg Per E, Clack Jennifer A
Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.
University Museum of Zoology Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
R Soc Open Sci. 2020 Apr 8;7(4):192117. doi: 10.1098/rsos.192117. eCollection 2020 Apr.
A new genus and species of Devonian tetrapod, gen. et sp. nov., is described from a single complete right lower jaw ramus recovered from the mass-death deposit in the upper part of the Britta Dal Formation (upper Famennian) of Stensiö Bjerg, Gauss Peninsula, East Greenland. Visualization by propagation phase contrast synchrotron microtomography allows a complete digital dissection of the specimen. With a total jaw ramus length of 44.8 mm, is by far the smallest Devonian tetrapod described to date. It differs from all previously known Devonian tetrapods in having only a fang pair without a tooth row on the anterior coronoid and a large posterior process on the posterior coronoid. The presence of an incipient surangular crest and a concave prearticular margin to the adductor fossa together cause the fossa to face somewhat mesially, reminiscent of the condition in Carboniferous tetrapods. A phylogenetic analysis places crownward to other Devonian tetrapods, adjacent to the Tournaisian genus . Together with other recent discoveries, it suggests that diversification of 'Carboniferous-grade' tetrapods had already begun before the end of the Devonian and that the group was not greatly affected by the end-Devonian mass extinction.
一种泥盆纪四足动物的新属新种,即[新属新种名称],是从东格陵兰高斯半岛斯滕西厄·比约格的布里塔·达尔组(法门阶上部)上部的大规模死亡沉积层中发现的一块完整的右下颔支骨描述而来。通过传播相位对比同步加速器显微断层扫描进行可视化处理,得以对该标本进行完整的数字解剖。右下颔支骨全长44.8毫米,是迄今为止所描述的最小的泥盆纪四足动物。它与所有先前已知的泥盆纪四足动物的不同之处在于,前关节冠状突上只有一对尖牙而没有齿列,后关节冠状突上有一个大的后突。初期的角突嵴的存在以及内收肌窝处关节前边缘的凹陷共同导致该窝有点向内侧,这让人联想到石炭纪四足动物的情况。系统发育分析将[新属新种名称]置于其他泥盆纪四足动物的冠部方向,与杜内阶的[属名]相邻。与最近的其他发现一起,这表明“石炭纪等级”的四足动物在泥盆纪末期之前就已经开始多样化,并且该类群并未受到泥盆纪末期大灭绝的太大影响。