A new stem sarcopterygian illuminates patterns of character evolution in early bony fishes by Lu, J, Giles, S, Friedman, M, Zhu, M

“…Here we report a new sarcopterygian (Ptyctolepis brachynotus gen. et sp. nov.) from the Pragian (Early Devonian) of South China, which preserves the only example of a completely ossified otoccipital division of the braincase in a stem lobe-finned fish. The hyomandibular facets are paired but lie dorsal to the jugular canal, representing a hitherto unobserved combination of derived and primitive character states. …”

Marine origin of retroviruses in the early Palaeozoic Era by Aiewsakun, P, Katzourakis, A

“…We also observe several possible ancient viral cross-class transmissions, involving lobe-finned fish, shark and frog FLERVs. Sequence examination and analyses reveal two major lineages of ray-finned fish FLERVs, one of which had gained two novel accessory genes within their extraordinarily large genomes. …”

The African coelacanth genome provides insights into tetrapod evolution. by Amemiya, C, Alföldi, J, Lee, A, Fan, S, Philippe, H, Maccallum, I, Braasch, I, Manousaki, T, Schneider, I, Rohner, N, Organ, C, Chalopin, D, Smith, J, Robinson, M, Dorrington, R, Gerdol, M, Aken, B, Biscotti, M, Barucca, M, Baurain, D, Berlin, A, Blatch, G, Buonocore, F, Burmester, T, Campbell, MS

“…The discovery of a living coelacanth specimen in 1938 was remarkable, as this lineage of lobe-finned fish was thought to have become extinct 70 million years ago. …”

The oldest actinopterygian highlights the cryptic early history of the hyperdiverse ray-finned fishes by Lu, J, Giles, S, Friedman, M, Blaauwen, J, Zhu, M

“…Osteichthyans comprise two divisions, each containing over 32,000 living species [1]: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes and tetrapods) and Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes). …”

Mesencephalic origin of the inferior lobe in zebrafish by Solal Bloch, Manon Thomas, Ingrid Colin, Sonya Galant, Elodie Machado, Pierre Affaticati, Arnim Jenett, Kei Yamamoto

“…Abstract Background Although the overall brain organization is shared in vertebrates, there are significant differences within subregions among different groups, notably between Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) and Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish). …”
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Morphometric analysis of lungfish endocasts elucidates early dipnoan palaeoneurological evolution by Alice M Clement, Tom J Challands, Richard Cloutier, Laurent Houle, Per E Ahlberg, Shaun P Collin, John A Long

“…The lobe-finned fish, lungfish (Dipnoi, Sarcoptergii), have persisted for ~400 million years from the Devonian Period to present day. …”
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Paleovirology: connecting recent and ancient viral evolution by Aiewsakun, P

“…Phylogenetic analyses reveal that the progenitors of ray-finned fish FLERVs co-diversify broadly with their fish hosts, but also suggest that there might have been several ancient viral cross-class transmissions, involving lobe-finned fish, shark, and frog FLERVs. Again, by using the power-law rate-decay model, analyses in this thesis suggest that this major retroviral clade has an ancient Ordovician marine origin, originating together with their jawed vertebrate hosts more than 450 million years ago. …”

Prehistoric Vertebrates and Prehistoric Invertebrates / by Bowers, Sammy, author 648388

“…It appeared in the Upper Devonian (Famennian) about 365 million years ago, and was anatomically intermediate between lobe-finned fishes and the first tetrapods fully capable of coming onto land. …”

Tetrapods (Class of Vertebrate) / by Muniz, Larry, author 648579

“…The earliest tetrapods evolved from the lobe-finned fishes in the Devonian. They are now a dominant part of the terrestrial fauna, representing all known larger land animals. …”
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A REAPPRAISAL OF THE ORIGIN AND BASAL RADIATION OF THE OSTEICHTHYES by Friedman, M, Brazeau, MD

“…The earliest Actinoptergyii (ray-finned fishes) and Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes) have been studied intensely, and a consistent picture of interrelationships has begun to emerge for the latter. …”

Ever Since Owen: Changing Perspectives on the Early Evolution of Tetrapods by Coates, M, Ruta, M, Friedman, M

“…Research emphasis can now shift to broader-based questions, including the whole of the early tetrapod radiation, from the divergence from other lobed-finned fishes to the origins of modern amphibians and amniotes. …”

Bichir external gills arise via heterochronic shift that accelerates hyoid arch development by Jan Stundl, Anna Pospisilova, David Jandzik, Peter Fabian, Barbora Dobiasova, Martin Minarik, Brian D Metscher, Vladimir Soukup, Robert Cerny

“…Bichirs represent the earliest diverged living group of ray-finned fishes, and possess intriguing traits otherwise typical for lobe-finned fishes such as ventral paired lungs and larval external gills. …”
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A survey of palaeontological sampling biases in fishes based on the Phanerozoic record of Great Britain by Lloyd, G, Friedman, M

“…Chondrichthyans (sharks, rays, and ratfishes) and osteichthyans (ray-finned and lobe-finned fishes) show contrasting relationships with geological and sampling proxies, possibly reflecting different taphonomic profiles or idiosyncratic variation in the relative proportion of freshwater and marine deposits over the British Phanerozoic. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.…”

First discovery of a primitive coelacanth fin fills a major gap in the evolution of lobed fins and limbs. by Friedman, M, Coates, M, Anderson, P

“…This uncertainty arises from an outstanding gap in our knowledge of early lobed fins: there are no fossil data that record primitive pectoral fin conditions in coelacanths, one of the three major groups of sarcopterygian (lobe-finned) fishes. A new fossil from the Middle-Late Devonian of Wyoming preserves the first and only example of a primitive coelacanth pectoral fin endoskeleton. …”

Species delimitation and coexistence in an ancient, depauperate vertebrate clade by Chase Doran Brownstein, Immanuel Chas Bissell

“…The most famous of these are the coelacanths. This clade of lobe-finned fishes occupies a pivotal position on the vertebrate tree between other fishes and tetrapods. …”
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Cell-Type Specific Determinants of NRAMP1 Expression in Professional Phagocytes by Mathieu F. M. Cellier

“…Nramp1 represents an ancient eukaryotic cell-autonomous defense whereas the gene duplication that yielded Nramp1 and Nramp2 predated the origin of Sarcopterygians (lobe-finned fishes and tetrapods). SLC11A1 genetic polymorphisms associated with human resistance to tuberculosis consist of potential regulatory variants. …”
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Sentiment analysis as a measure of conservation culture in scientific literature by Lennox, RJ, Verissimo, D, Twardek, WM, Davis, CR, Jarić, I

“…For example, abstracts mentioning lobe finned fishes tended to have high sentiment scores, which we hypothesize may be related to the rediscovery of the coelacanth driving a positive narrative. …”

Initial radiation of jaws demonstrated stability despite faunal and environmental change. by Anderson, P, Friedman, M, Brazeau, MD, Brazeau, MD, Rayfield, E

“…Devonian functional space is dominated by lobe-finned fishes and 'placoderms'; high disparity within the latter implies considerable trophic innovation among jaw-bearing stem gnathostomes. …”

Initial radiation of jaws demonstrated stability despite faunal and environmental change by Anderson, P, Friedman, M, Brazeau, MD, Rayfield, E

“…Devonian functional space is dominated by lobe-finned fishes and 'placoderms'; high disparity within the latter implies considerable trophic innovation among jaw-bearing stem gnathostomes. …”