Search results for "Early vertebrates"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
Autecology, lifestyle and hydrodynamics of early vertebrates
2018
Capítulo 1. Introducción general Los vertebrados constituyen uno de los grupos de animales más exitosos, contando con más de 60000 especies distintas y ocupando la gran mayoría de ecosistemas marinos y continentales. Su origen y evolución han sido temas centrales para biólogos y paleontólogos durante décadas, pero las discusiones en este sentido se han visto obstaculizadas porque los grupos actuales (ciclóstomos, condrictios y osteíctios) constituyen solo una pequeña representación de toda la diversidad que existió en el pasado. Por lo tanto, el registro fósil es crucial para arrojar luz sobre estos aspectos permitiendo desvelar el momento y el tempo de la aparición de los diferentes caract…
Ecomorphological inferences in early vertebrates: reconstructing Dunkleosteus terrelli (Arthrodira, Placodermi) caudal fin from palaeoecological data
2017
Our knowledge about the body morphology of many extinct early vertebrates is very limited, especially in regard to their post-thoracic region. The prompt disarticulation of the dermo-skeletal elements due to taphonomic processes and the lack of a well-ossified endoskeleton in a large number of groups hinder the preservation of complete specimens. Previous reconstructions of most early vertebrates known from partial remains have been wholly based on phylogenetically closely related taxa. However, body design of fishes is determined, to a large extent, by their swimming mode and feeding niche, making it possible to recognise different morphological traits that have evolved several times in no…
Ecomorphological inferences in early vertebrates: reconstructing
2017
Our knowledge about the body morphology of many extinct early vertebrates is very limited, especially in regard to their post-thoracic region. The prompt disarticulation of the dermo-skeletal elements due to taphonomic processes and the lack of a well-ossified endoskeleton in a large number of groups hinder the preservation of complete specimens. Previous reconstructions of most early vertebrates known from partial remains have been wholly based on phylogenetically closely related taxa. However, body design of fishes is determined, to a large extent, by their swimming mode and feeding niche, making it possible to recognise different morphological traits that have evolved several times in no…
Data from: Patterns of ecological diversification in thelodonts
2018
Here we explore the spatial, temporal and phylogenetic patterns of ecological diversification for the entire clade of thelodonts, one of the earliest groups of vertebrates and longest lasting of the Palaeozoic agnathans in the fossil record. Parsimony and maximum-likelihood methods are used to reconstruct ancestral states of their geographical distributions, habitats and lifestyles. Our results support the concept that thelodonts originated during the Middle?–Late Ordovician probably in marine open waters of Laurasia, with a demersal lifestyle on hard substrates being the ancestral condition for the whole clade. Later, thelodonts underwent a complex ecological diversification and palaeobiog…