| Tetrapodomorphs Temporal range: Early Devonian-Recent, 406–0 Ma |
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| The basal tetrapodomorph Tiktaalik | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Sarcopterygii |
| Subclass: | Tetrapodomorpha Ahlberg, 1991 |
| Subgroups | |
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Tetrapodomorpha is a clade of vertebrates, consisting of tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates) and their closest sarcopterygian relatives that are more closely related to living tetrapods than to living lungfish. Advanced forms transitional between fish and the early labyrinthodonts, like Tiktaalik, have been referred to as "fishapods" by their discoverers, being half-fish half-tetrapods, in appearance and limb morphology. Tetrapodomorpha contains the crown group tetrapods (the last common ancestor of living tetrapods and all of its descendants) and several groups of early stem tetrapods. Tetrapodomorpha contains several groups of related lobe-finned fishes, collectively known as the osteolepiforms. The Tetrapodamorpha minus the crown group Tetrapoda is the Stem Tetrapoda, a paraphyletic unit encompassing the fish to tetrapod transition.
Among the characters defining tetrapodomorphs are modifications to the fins, notably a humerus with convex head articulating with the glenoid fossa (the socket of the shoulder joint).
Tetrapodomorph fossils are known from the early Devonian onwards, and include Osteolepis, Panderichthys and Kenichthys.
Contents |
After Benton, 2004 [1]:
Cladogram modified after Ruta, Jeffery, & Coates (2003)[1]:
| Tetrapodomorpha |
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