Tiktaalik
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tiktaalik Fossil range: Late Devonian |
|||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||||||||
| restoration of Tiktaalik roseae | |||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | |||||||||||||||
| Tiktaalik roseae Daeschler, Shubin & Jenkins, 2006 |
|||||||||||||||
Tiktaalik is a genus of extinct fish. This sarcopterygian (lobe-finned) fish from the late Devonian period, has many features akin to those of tetrapods (four-legged animals).[1]
It, and other species like it, prove that legs started to develop before these animals were land-based. They were shallow-water carnivorous fish, or 'fishapods'.[2] [3] Tiktaalik was therefore a transitional fossil, and an example of mosaic evolution.
[change] References
- ↑ Edward B. Daeschler, Neil H. Shubin and Farish A. Jenkins, Jr (11 September 2008). "A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan". Nature 440: 757–763. doi:10.1038/nature04639. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/abs/nature04639.html.
- ↑ Clack, Jenny 2002. Gaining ground. Indiana Univ. Press, Bloomington IN.
- ↑ Shubin N. 2008. Your inner fish. Allen Lane, London.
