1998/10/01 by Michel Laurin · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1998.tb02028.x
openalex publication_date 1998/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/19
The hypothesis suggested by Coates that pentadactyly arose twice is based on the presumed affinities between Tulerpeton, embolomeres, and amniotes. Flaws were found in the coding of some characters that supported this clade and, once corrected, the matrix fails to support the proposed phylogeny. Furthermore, interpretation of the phylogeny of Coates is difficult because no amniotes and no lissamphibians were included in this analysis. A reappraisal of the affinities of Tulerpeton using a matrix composed of a greater range of taxa suggests that it is a stem-tetrapod, that pentadactyly arose only once, and that the first tetrapod was already pentadactyl.