Study of jaw mechanics sheds new light on early tetrapod feeding habits
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - 13:51
in Paleontology & Archaeology
A study of the jaws of one of the earliest known limbed vertebrates shows the species still fed underwater, not on land. Tetrapods -- the four-legged limbed vertebrates -- evolved from fish and include today's amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Acanthostega is regarded as one of the best known early tetrapods, and has played a key role in debates about tetrapod origins since spectacular new specimens were discovered in Greenland in 1987. Dating back to some 360 million years ago (end of the Devonian period); it has often been seen as a near-perfect fish-tetrapod intermediate.