A near-tetrapod from the Baltic Middle Devonian

The tetrapodomorph sarcopterygian Livoniana multidentata gen. et sp. nov. is described on the basis of lower jaw fragments from the Middle Devonian(late Givetian) of Latvia and Estonia. It possesses a suite of derived characters previously only known from tetrapods, which first appear in the late Devonian (late Frasnian), and a phylogenetic analysis places it on the internode between Panderichthys and the base of the Tetrapoda. The analysis also reveals that the ‘Elpistostegalia’ are paraphyletic to Tetrapoda, with Elpistostege closer to tetrapods than is Panderichthys. Owing to incompleteness of the material, there is almost no overlap between the data sets for ElpistostegeLivoniana; the a…