Project 3480: R. Cloutier, A. M. Clement, M. S. Lee, R. Noël, I. Béchard, V. Roy, J. A. Long. 2020. Elpistostege and the origin of the vertebrate hand. Nature. 579 (7800):549-554.
Abstract
The evolution of fishes to tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates) was one of the most important transformations in vertebrate evolution. Hypotheses of tetrapod origins rely heavily on the anatomy of a few tetrapod-like fish fossils from the Middle and Late Devonian period (393–359 million years ago)1. These taxa—known as elpistostegalians—include Panderichthys2, Elpistostege3,4 and Tiktaalik1,5, none of which has yet revealed the complete skeletal anatomy of the pectoral fin. Here we report a 1.57-metre-long articulated specimen of Elpistostege watsoni from the Upper Devonian period of Canada, which represents—to our knowledge—the most complete elpistostegalian yet found. High-energy computed tomography reveals that the skeleton of the pectoral fin has four proximodistal rows of radials (two of which include branched carpals) as well as two distal rows that are organized as digits and putative digits. Despite this skeletal pattern (which represents the most tetrapod-like arrangement of bones found in a pectoral fin to date), the fin retains lepidotrichia (fin rays) distal to the radials. We suggest that the vertebrate hand arose primarily from a skeletal pattern buried within the fairly typical aquatic pectoral fin of elpistostegalians. Elpistostege is potentially the sister taxon of all other tetrapods, and its appendages further blur the line between fish and land vertebrates.Read the article »
Article DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2100-8
Project DOI: 10.7934/P3480, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P3480
This project contains | Matrices |
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Download Project SDD File | Total scored cells: 5247 Total media associated with cells: 0 Total labels associated with cell media: 0 |
Characters | |
Total characters: 202 Total characters with associated media: 0 Total characters with media with labels: 0 Total character states: 436 Total character states with associated media: 0 Total character states with media with labels:0 Total unordered/ordered characters:185/17 |
Currently Viewing:
MorphoBank Project 3480
MorphoBank Project 3480
- Creation Date:
02 June 2019 - Publication Date:
17 April 2020 - Project views: 19789
- Media downloads: 6
- Matrix downloads: 23
Authors' Institutions
- Flinders University
- South Australian Museum
- Université du Québec à Rimouski (University of Quebec at Rimouski)
Members
member name | taxa | specimens | media | media notes | chars | character
| cell scorings (scored, NPA, "-") | cell
| rules | ||||||||||||||
Richard Cloutier Project Administrator | 42 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 202 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 5121 (4906, 0, 215) | 0 | 202 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Alice Clement Full membership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (0, 0, 0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Mike Lee Full membership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (0, 0, 0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
John Long Full membership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 126 (117, 0, 9) | 0 | 103 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Taxonomic Overview for Matrix 'M26094' (42 Taxa)
taxon | unscored cells |
scored cells |
no cell support |
NPA cells |
"-" cells | cell images | labels on cell images |
member access |
[1] † Youngolepis Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 74 | 121 | 121 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[2] † Diabolepis Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 121 | 72 | 71 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[3] † Powichthys Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 77 | 120 | 118 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[4] † Porolepis Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 52 | 142 | 141 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[5] † Glyptolepis Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 19 | 169 | 169 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[6] † Tungsenia Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 128 | 71 | 62 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[7] † Kenichthys Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 80 | 118 | 117 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[8] † Gooloogongia Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 96 | 105 | 99 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[9] † Sauripterus Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 167 | 34 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[10] † Barameda Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 49 | 149 | 129 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[11] † Screbinodus Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 123 | 77 | 48 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[12] † Rhizodus Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 130 | 71 | 53 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[13] † Strepsodus Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 125 | 76 | 57 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[14] † Gyroptychius Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 70 | 128 | 126 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[15] † Osteolepis Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 59 | 138 | 134 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[16] † Gogonasus Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 1 | 191 | 175 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[17] † Medoevia Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 42 | 155 | 153 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[18] † Cladarosymblema Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 42 | 153 | 144 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[19] † Megalichthys Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 21 | 171 | 169 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[20] † Ectosteorhachis Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 84 | 111 | 111 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[21] † Beelarongia Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 125 | 74 | 61 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[22] † Canowindra Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 129 | 70 | 66 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[23] † Koharalepis Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 102 | 95 | 70 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[24] † Marsdenichthys Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 83 | 116 | 102 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[25] † Spodichthys Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 88 | 112 | 112 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[26] † Tristichopterus Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 68 | 130 | 113 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[27] † Eusthenopteron Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 0 | 198 | 196 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[28] † Jarvikina Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 91 | 108 | 108 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[29] † Platycephalichthys Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 103 | 98 | 96 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[30] † Cabonnichthys Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 52 | 146 | 145 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[31] † Mandageria Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 44 | 153 | 152 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[32] † Eusthenodon Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 103 | 97 | 96 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[33] † Hongyu Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 153 | 47 | 47 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[34] † Bruehnopteron murphyi Last Modified in 08/28/19 | 94 | 104 | 101 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[35] † Tinirau clackae Last Modified in 08/28/19 | 74 | 123 | 121 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[36] † Panderichthys Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 8 | 191 | 179 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[37] † Elpistostege Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 34 | 160 | 148 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[38] † Tiktaalik Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 30 | 165 | 151 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[39] † Ventastega curonica Last Modified in 06/20/19 | 102 | 89 | 88 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[40] † Acanthostega Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 18 | 172 | 171 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[41] † Ichthyostega Last Modified in 04/17/20 | 21 | 170 | 169 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
[42] † Tulerpeton curtum Last Modified in 06/17/19 | 167 | 33 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Project views
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 19789 | |
Project overview | 1820 | |
Media views | 2399 | Media search (2009 views); M687517 (390 views); |
Matrix views | 829 | Matrix landing page (704 views); Tetrapodomorph_phylogeny (125 views); |
Taxon list | 6823 | |
Specimen list | 5866 | |
Bibliography | 1301 | |
Views for media list | 748 | |
Documents list | 3 |
Project downloads
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 169 | |
Project downloads | 140 | |
Matrix downloads | 23 | Tetrapodomorph_phylogeny (23 downloads); |
Media downloads | 6 | M687517 (6 downloads); |