Journal
CURRENT BIOLOGY
Volume 26, Issue 12, Pages 1602-1608Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.045
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Funding
- Major Basic Research Projects of China [2012CB821902]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41472016, 41530102]
- National Major Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development Project of China [2011YQ03012]
- NERC Cohort [NE/J500045/1]
- Philip Leverhulme Prize
- John Fell Fund
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Osteichthyans comprise two divisions, each containing over 32,000 living species [1]: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes and tetrapods) and Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes). Recent discoveries from China highlight the morphological disparity of early sarcopterygians and extend their origin into the late Silurian [2-4]. By contrast, the oldest unambiguous actinopterygians are roughly 30 million years younger, leaving a long temporal gap populated by fragments and rare body fossils of controversial phylogenetic placement [5-10]. Here we reinvestigate the enigmatic osteichthyan Meemannia from the Early Devonian (similar to 415 million years ago) of China, previously identified as an exceptionally primitive lobe-finned fish [3, 7, 11, 12]. Meemannia combines cosmine-like tissues taken as evidence of sarcopterygian affinity with actinopterygian-like skull roof and braincase geometry, including endoskeletal enclosure of the spiracle and a lateral cranial canal. We report comparable histological structures in undoubted ray finned fishes and conclude that they are general osteichthyan features. Phylogenetic analysis places Meemannia as an early-diverging ray-finned fish, resolving it as the sister lineage of Cheirolepis [13] plus all younger actinopterygians. This brings the first appearance of ray-fins more in line with that of lobe-fins and fills a conspicuous faunal gap in the otherwise diverse late Silurian-earliest Devonian vertebrate faunas of the South China Block [4].
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