November 21, 2005
1 min read
Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAmGetting a Leg Up on Land: Overview/The Origin of Tetrapod
By Jennifer A. Clack
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The emergence of land-going vertebrates was a cornerstone event in the evolution of life on earth.
For decades, a paltry fossil record obfuscated efforts to trace the steps that eventually produced these terrestrial tetrapods from their fish ancestors.
Fossils recovered over the past 15 years have filled many of the gaps in the story and revolutionized what is known about tetrapod evolution, diversity, biogeography and paleoecology.
These recent finds indicate that tetrapods evolved many of their characteristic features while they were still aquatic. They also reveal that early members of the group were more specialized and more geographically and ecologically widespread than previously thought.
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