Affiliation:
1. Département de biologie, chimie et géographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, Québec, Canada G5L 3A1
2. Parc national de Miguasha, Nouvelle, Québec, Canada G0C 2E0
3. Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
Abstract
Within jawed vertebrates, pelvic appendages have been modified or lost repeatedly, including in the most phylogenetically basal, extinct, antiarch placoderms. One Early Devonian basal antiarch,
Parayunnanolepis
, possessed pelvic girdles, suggesting the presence of pelvic appendages at the origin of jawed vertebrates; their absence in more derived antiarchs implies a secondary loss. Recently, paired female genital plates were identified in the Late Devonian antiarch,
Bothriolepis canadensis
, in the position of pelvic girdles in other placoderms. We studied these putative genital plates along an ontogenetic series of
B. canadensis
; ontogenetic changes in their morphology, histology and elemental composition suggest they represent endoskeletal pelvic girdles composed of perichondral and endochondral bone. We suggest that pelvic fins of derived antiarchs were lost, while pelvic girdles were retained, but reduced, relative to
Parayunnanolepis
. This indicates developmental plasticity and evolutionary lability in pelvic appendages, shortly after these elements evolved at the origin of jawed vertebrates.
Funder
Parc national de Miguasha
Research Chair in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Cited by
14 articles.
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