Latest News:  
Beijing   Overcast/Moderate rain    9 / 12 ℃  City Forecast


Earliest four-legged animal fossil discovered in China


09:03, October 25, 2012

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have unearthed a skull fossil of a fish-like stem-tetrapod that could extend the earliest record of tetrapods by some 10 million years, according to a research paper published Tuesday in the online journal "Nature Communications."

The stem-tetrapod, discovered in southwest China, will increase scientists' understanding of the fin-to-limb evolutionary transition, the paper said.

Living tetrapods, such as frogs, turtles, birds and mammals, comprise just one subgroup of the tetrapod superclass, which also includes finned and limbed stem-tetrapods.

Some stem-tetrapod species are believed to have moved onto land about 370 million years ago and gradually evolved into the earliest terrestrial vertebrates and eventually humans.

Previously, there was a gap of at least 16 million years from the oldest fossil record of the lungfish lineage to the earliest known stem-tetrapod Kenichthys, a finned stem-tetrapod.

The report said the new discovery pushes the fossil record of tetrapods back by some 10 million years and, as a result, the first appearance of the tetrapod superclass has been drawn far closer to the estimated time of the lungfish-tetrapod split.

The study further fills in the morphological gap between tetrapods and lungfish and unveils the evolutionary pattern of character changes during the initial diversification of stem-tetrapods, the report said.

In addition, an X-ray tomography study of the skull has provided new fossil evidence on the origin of the tetrapod brain.

A simulation of its brain conditions indicated that some important brain modifications related to terrestrial life occurred at the beginning of tetrapod evolution, much earlier than previously thought, the report said.

The newly discovered stem-tetrapod was named "Tungsenia paradoxa," a tribute to renowned Chinese geologist Liu Dongsheng (1917-2008), who won China's top science award in 2004.

Most viewed commentaries

Recommended News


Leave your comment0 comments

  1. Name


Selections for you

  1. Helicopter formation of PLA army aviation force

  2. Four "gun masters" of PLA Beijing MAC

  3. James Bond and his girls on big screen

  4. Classic cars, sexy girls highlight auto show

  5. Top 10 self-made businesswomen in China

  6. China's economy has bottomed out

  7. China and France to protect freshwater lake

  8. Monarch butterfly

Most Popular


  1. Sino-US relations tainted by falsehood
  2. Foreign funding only short-term fix
  3. China's slowdown 'beneficial'
  4. China's development benefits all: U.S. city official
  5. Vested interests must not prevent gaokao reform
  6. Economic strains put Hollande on back foot
  7. Sino-Cambodian ties undimmed by Sihanouk’s death
  8. US should engage Asia as a partner
  9. US risks losing neutrality over Diaoyu
  10. New energy initiatives just for show

What’s happening in China

Civil service test applications surge

  1. Porn crackdown
  2. Avon warned by FDA for misleading advertisement
  3. Man on dating show gets call for medical advice
  4. Chinese daughters more filial than sons
  5. Police probe doctors in human egg case