Abstract
The earliest tetrapods (vertebrates with limbs rather than paired fins) date from the Late Devonian Period (370–354 million years ago)1,2 — nine genera have been described, all of which are from the Euramerican supercontinent that comprises Europe, north America and Greenland, apart from a single Gondwanan genus, Metaxygnathus, from Australia3,4,5. Here we report the discovery of the first Devonian tetrapod from Asia, a finding that substantially extends the geographical range of these animals and raises new questions about their dispersal. These forms seem to have achieved worldwide distribution and great taxonomic diversity within a relatively short time.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 52 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.83 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahlberg, P. E. & Milner, A. R. Nature 368, 507–514 (1994).
Coates, M. I. & Clack, J. A. Nature 352, 234–236 (1991).
Campbell, K. S. W. & Bell, M. Alcheringa 1, 369–381 (1977).
Ahlberg, P. E. & Clack, J. A. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. 89, 11–46 (1998).
Daeschler, E. B. J. Paleontol. 74, 301–308 (2000).
Pan, J. et al. Continental Devonian System of Ningxia and its Biotas (Geological, Beijing, 1987).
Metcalfe, I. in Biogeography and Geological Evolution of SE Asia (eds Hall, R. & Holloway, J. D.) 25–41 (Backbuys, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1998).
Ahlberg, P. E. Nature 373, 420–425 (1995).
Ahlberg, P. E., Lukševičs, E. & Mark-Kurik, E. Palaeontology 43, 533–548 (2000).
Milner, A. R. in Palaeozoic Vertebrate Biostratigraphy and Biogeography (ed. Long, J. A.) 324–353 (Belhaven, London, 1993).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhu, M., Ahlberg, P., Zhao, W. et al. First Devonian tetrapod from Asia. Nature 420, 760–761 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/420760a
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/420760a
