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Fossilized ontogenies: the contribution of placoderm ontogeny to our understanding of the evolution of early gnathostomes
Author(s) -
Johanson Zerina,
Trinajstic Kate
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
palaeontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1475-4983
pISSN - 0031-0239
DOI - 10.1111/pala.12093
Subject(s) - vertebrate , biology , ontogeny , evolutionary biology , zoology , phylogenetics , paleontology , genetics , gene
Placoderms, representing phylogenetically more inclusive jawed vertebrates and successive sister taxa to crown‐group gnathostomes, are critical to our understanding of character evolution within the crown‐group (chondrichthyans + osteichthyans), including developmental characters. Early ontogenetic stages of placoderms are generally poorly known, although some exceptional faunas preserve both embryonic (e.g. from the G ogo F ormation, W estern A ustralia) and post‐embryonic individuals (the M iguasha F ormation, C anada; L ode F ormation, L atvia; M erriganowry F ormation, G ogo F ormation, A ustralia). Information provided by these ontogenies is relevant to questions of placoderm taxonomy and phylogeny, but also to broader questions pertinent to vertebrate evolution as a whole, for example, evolution of bone development, evolution of the axial skeleton and evolution of reproduction.