Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T04:43:08.477Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The postcranial skeleton of the Middle Devonian lungfish Dipterus valenciennesi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Per Erik Ahlberg  and
Nigel H. Trewin
Per Erik Ahlberg
Affiliation:
Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
Nigel H. Trewin
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, Meston Building, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB9 2UE
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The axial skeleton and fin supports of the Middle Devonian lungfish Dipterus are described from a range of specimens from the Orcadian Basin of Scotland. The axial skeleton of the trunk region consists of intercentra, relatively short ribs, and neural arches bearing two rows of supraneural spines; posteriorly, the intercentra are replaced by haemal arches. The notochord seems to have been essentially unconstricted. There may have been two pairs of cranial ribs. In general terms the vertebral column resembles that of Neoceratodus but is more fully ossified. The only known paired fin support of Dipterus is an archipterygial structure resembling those of Neoceratodus, with at least seven mesomeres and jointed pre- and postaxial radials. The pectoral fin is rotated as in modern lungfishes. The median fin supports all consist of basal plates supporting radials. In the posterior dorsal fin support the posterior radials form a branched structure. The heterocercal tail is supported by segmental radials. A new body reconstruction is presented.

The characters possessed by Dipterus offer support for a lungfish–porolepiform sistergroup relationship. All known lungfishes fit into a single cumulative series of postcranial morphologies. The evidence for a paedomorphic trend in lungfish phylogeny is interesting but inconclusive.

Keywords

fin supportsaxial skeletonsarcopterygiansrelationshipspaedomorphosis
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 85 , Issue 3 , 1994 , pp. 159 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agassiz, J. L. R. 1833-1844. Recherches sur les poissons fossiles. Text (5 vols) & Atlas (5 vols). Neuchâtel: Petitpierre.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agassiz, J. L. R. 1844-1845. Monographic des Poissons Fossiles du Vieux Grès Rouge ou Système Devonien (Old Red Sandstone) des lies Britanniques et de Russie. Text & Atlas. Neuchatel: Jent & Gassman.Google Scholar
Ahlberg, P. E. 1989. Paired fin skeletons and relationships of the fossil group Porolepiformes (Osteichthyes: Sarcopterygii). ZOOL J LINN SOC 96, 119–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahlberg, P. E. 1991. A re-examination of sarcopterygian interrelationships, with special reference to the Porolepiformes. ZOOL J LINN SOC 103, 241–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahlberg, P. E. 1992. Coelacanth fins and evolution. NATURE 358, 459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, S. M. 1977. The axial skeleton of the coelacanth, Latimeria. In Andrews, S. M., Miles, R. S. & Walker, A. D. (eds) Problems in vertebrate evolution, LINN SOC SYMP SER 4, 277–88.Google Scholar
Andrews, S. M. 1982. The discovery of fossil fishes in Scotland up to 1845, with checklists of Agassiz's figured specimens. Edinburgh: Royal Scottish Museum Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, S. M. 1985. Rhizodont crossopterygian fish from the Dinantian of Foulden, Berwickshire, with a re-evaluation of this group. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH: EARTH SCI 76, 67–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, S. M. & Westoll, T. S. 1970a. The postcranial skeleton of Eusthenopteronfoordi Whiteaves. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 68, 207–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, S. M. & Westoll, T. S. 1970b. The postcranial skeleton of rhipidistian fishes excluding Eusthenopteron. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 68, 391–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arratia, G. & Casciotta, J. 1994. Development and homology of median neural bones in Lepidosiren. J MORPHOL (in press).Google Scholar
Bernis, W. E. 1984. Paedomorphosis and the evolution of the Dipnoi. PALEOBIOLOGY 10, 293–307.Google Scholar
Campbell, K. S. W. & Barwick, R. E. 1987. Palaeozoic lungfishes—a review. In Bemis, W. E., Burggren, W. W. & Kemp, N. E. (eds) The biology and evolution of lungfishes. J MORPHOL (SUPPLEMENT 1), 1986, 93–131.Google Scholar
Campbell, K. S. W. & Barwick, R. E. 1988. Uranolophus: a reappraisal of a primitive dipnoan. In Jell, P. A. (ed.) Devonian and Carboniferous fish studies. MEM ASS AUSTRALAS PALAEONTOLS 7, 87–144.Google Scholar
Campbell, K. S. W. & Barwick, R. E. 1990: Palaeozoic dipnoan phylogeny: functional complexes and evolution without parsimony. PALAEOBIOLOGY 16, 143–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1988. Vertebrate paleontology and evolution. New York: W. H. Freeman & Co.Google Scholar
Chang, M-M. & Yu, X. 1984 Structure and phylogenetic significance of Diabolichthys speratus gen. et sp. nov., a new Dipnoan-like form the Lower Devonian of Eastern Yunnan, China. PROC LINN SOC NEW SOUTH WALES 107, 171–84.Google Scholar
Coates, M. I. & Clack, J. A. 1990. Polydactyly in the earliest known tetrapod limbs. NATURE 347, 66–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denison, R. H. 1968. The evolutionary significance of the earliest known lungfish, Uranolophus. In Ørvig, T. (ed.) Current problems of lower vertebrate phylogeny, NOBEL SYMPOSIUM 4, 247–57.Google Scholar
Forster-Cooper, C. 1937. The Middle Devonian fish fauna of Achanarras. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 59, 223–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardiner, B. G. 1984. The relationships of the palaeoniscid fishes, a review based on new specimens of Mimia and Moythomasia from the Upper Devonian of Western Australia. BULL BR MUS NAT HIST 37, 173–428.Google Scholar
Goodrich, E. S. 1930. Studies on the structure and development of vertebrates. London: MacMillan & Co.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham-Smith, W. & Westoll, T S. 1937. On a new long-headed dipnoan fish from the Upper Devonian of Scaumenac Bay, P.Q.. Canada. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 59, 241–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, P. H. & Pagel, M. D. 1991. The comparative method in evolutionary biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huxley, T. H. 1861. Preliminary essay upon the systematic arrangement of the fishes of the Devonian epoch. MEM GEOL SURV UK 10, 1–46.Google Scholar
Jarvik, E. 1948. On the morphology and taxonomy of the Middle Devonian osteolepid fishes of Scotland. K SVEN VETENSKAPSAKAD HANDL (3) 25 (1), 1–301.Google Scholar
Jarvik, E. 1952. On the fish-like tail in the ichthyostegid stegocephalians with descriptions of a new stegocephalian and a new crossopterygian from the Upper Devonian of East Greenland. MEDD GRØNLAND 114, 1–90.Google Scholar
Jarvik, E. 1980. Basic structure and evolution of vertebrates. Vol. 1. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lehman, J.-P. 1959. Les dipneustes du Devonien superieur du Groenland. MEDD GR0NLAND 160, 1–58.Google Scholar
Long, J. A. 1989. A new rhizodontiform fish from the Early Carboniferous of Victoria, Australia, with remarks on the phylogenetic position of the group. J VERT PALEONTOL 9, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, J. A. 1993. Cranial ribs in Devonian lungfishes and the origin of dipnoan air-breathing. MEM ASS AUSTRALAS PALAEONTOLS 15, 199–209.Google Scholar
Marshall, C. R. 1987. Lungfish: phylogeny and parsimony. In Bemis, W. E., Burggren, W. W. & Kemp, N. E. (eds) The biology and evolution of lungfishes, J MORPHOL (SUPPLEMENT 1). 1986, 151–62.Google Scholar
Miles, R. S. 1977. Dipnoan (lungfish) skulls and the relationships of the group: a study based on new species from the Devonian of Australia. ZOOL J LINN SOC 61, 1–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miles, R. S. & Westoll, T. S. 1968. The placoderm fish Coccosteus cuspidatus Miller ex Agassiz from the Middle Old Red Sandstone of Scotland. Pt. 1. Descriptive morphology. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 67, 373–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, H. 1841. The Old Red Sandstone or new walks in an old field. Edinburgh: Johnstone.Google Scholar
Millot, J. & Anthony, J. 1958. Anatomie de Latimeria chalumnae. Tome I. Squelette, muscles et formations de soutien. Paris: Editions du CNRS.Google Scholar
Mookerjee, H. K., Ganguly, D. N. & Brahma, S. K. 1954: On the LUNGFISH development of the centrum and arches in the Dipnoi, Protopterus annectens. ANAT ANZEIG 100, 217–30.Google Scholar
Moy-Thomas, J. A. & Miles, R. S. 1971. Palaeozoic fishes. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ørvig, T. 1961. New finds of acanthodians, arthrodires, crossopterygians, ganoids and dipnoans in the upper Middle Devonian calcareous flags (Oberer Plattenkalk) of the Bergisch Gladbach-Paffrath Trough. PALAONTOL Z 35, 10–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pander, C. H. 1858. Über die Ctenodipterinen des devonischen Systems. St Petersburg: Buchdruckerei der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pridmore, P. A. & Barwick, R. E. 1993. The post-cranial morphologies of the Late Devonian dipnoans Griphognathus and Chirodipterus and their locomotor implications. MEM ASS AUSTRALAS PALAEONTOLS 15, 161–82.Google Scholar
Rosen, D. E., Forey, P. L., Gardiner, B. G. & Patterson, C. 1981. Lungfishes, tetrapods, palaeontology, and plesiomorphy. BULL AM MUS NAT HIST 167, 163–275.Google Scholar
Säve-Söderbergh, G. 1937. On Rhynchodipterus elginensis n. g., n. sp., representing a new group of Dipnoan-like Choanata from the Upper Devonian of East Greenland and Scotland. ARK ZOOL 29B, 1–8.Google Scholar
Schultze, H-P. 1969. Griphognathus Gross, ein langschnauziger Dipnoer aus dem Oberdevon von Bergisch-Gladbach (Rheinisches Schiefergebirge) und von Lettland. GEOL PALAEONTOL 3, 21–79.Google Scholar
Schultze, H-P. 1970. Die Histologie der Wirbelkorper der Dipnoer. NEUES JAHRB GEOL PALAONTOL ABH 135, 311–36.Google Scholar
Schultze, H-P. 1975a. Die Lungenfisch-Gattung Conchopoma (Pisces: Dipnoi). SENCKENBERG LETH 56, 191–231.Google Scholar
Schultze, H-P. 1975b. Das Axialskelett der Dipnoer aus dem Oberdevon von Bergisch-Gladbach (Westdeutschland). Problèmes actuels de Paléontologie—Évolution des Vertébrés. COLLOQUES INT CENT NATN RES SCIENT 218, 149–59.Google Scholar
Schultze, H-P. 1992. A new long-headed dipnoan (Osteichthyes) from the Middle Devonian of Iowa, USA. J VERT PALEONTOL 12, 42–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schultze, H-P. & Marshall, C. R. 1993: Contrasting the use of functional complexes and isolated characters in lungfish evolution. MEM ASS AUSTRALAS PALAEONTOLS 15, 211–24.Google Scholar
Sedgwick, A. & Murchison, R. I. 1829. On the structure and relations of the deposits contained between the Primary Rocks and the Oolitic Series in the North of Scotland. TRANS GEOL SOC LONDON, SERIES 2 3, 125–60.Google Scholar
Shubin, N. H. & Alberch, P. 1986. A morphogenetic approach to the origin and basic organisation of the tetrapod limb. EVOL BIOL 20, 319–87.Google Scholar
Shute, C. C. D. 1972. The composition of vertebrae and the occipital region of the skull. In Joysey, K. A. & Kemp, T. S. (eds) Studies in vertebrate evolution, 21–34. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.Google Scholar
Tabin, C. & Laufer, E. 1993. Hox genes and serial homology. Nature 361, 692–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, K. S. 1972. An attempt to reconstruct evolutionary changes in the cellular DNA content of lungfish. J EXP ZOOL 180, 363–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traquair, R. H. 1871. Notes on the genus Phaneropleuron Huxley, with a description of a new species from the Carboniferous formation. GEOL MAG 8, 530–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traquair, R. H. 1895. The extinct vertebrata of the Moray Firth area. In Harvie-Brown, J. A. & Buckley, T. E. (eds) Vertebrate fauna of the Moray Basin, Vol. II, 235–85. Edinburgh: David Douglas.Google Scholar
Trewin, N. H. 1986. Palaeoecology and sedimentology of the Achanarras fish bed of the Middle Old Red Sandstone, Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 77, 21–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westoll, T. S. 1943. The origin of the primitive tetrapod limb. PROC R SOC LONDON (B) 131, 373–93.Google Scholar
Westoll, T. S. 1949. On the evolution of the Dipnoi. In Simpson, G. G. & Mayr, E. (eds) Genetics, palaeontology and evolution, 21–184. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
White, E. I. 1965. The head of Dipterus valenciennesi. BULL BR MUS NAT HIST (GEOL) 11, 3–45.Google Scholar
Woodward, A. S. 1891. Catalogue of the fossil fishes in the British Museum (Natural History) Part II. London: British Museum (Natural History).Google Scholar