Exceptional preservation of organs in Devonian placoderms from the Gogo lagerstätteShow others and affiliations
2022 (English)In: Science, ISSN 0036-8075, E-ISSN 1095-9203, Vol. 377, no 6612, p. 1311-1314Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The origin and early diversification of jawed vertebrates involved major changes to skeletal and soft anatomy. Skeletal transformations can be examined directly by studying fossil stem gnathostomes; however, preservation of soft anatomy is rare. We describe the only known example of a three-dimensionally mineralized heart, thick-walled stomach, and bilobed liver from arthrodire placoderms, stem gnathostomes from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation in Western Australia. The application of synchrotron and neutron microtomography to this material shows evidence of a flat S-shaped heart, which is well separated from the liver and other abdominal organs, and the absence of lungs. Arthrodires thus show the earliest phylogenetic evidence for repositioning of the gnathostome heart associated with the evolution of the complex neck region in jawed vertebrates.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Association for the Advancement of Science American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2022. Vol. 377, no 6612, p. 1311-1314
National Category
Evolutionary Biology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-490739DOI: 10.1126/science.abf3289ISI: 000887933500038PubMedID: 36107996OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-490739DiVA, id: diva2:1719444
Funder
Australian Research Council, DP1092870Australian Research Council, ARC-DP140104161Australian Research Council, DP1096002Australian Research Council, ARC-DP110101127Australian Research Council, ARC-DP200103219EU, European Research Council, 233111Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation2022-12-152022-12-152024-01-15Bibliographically approved