Tetrapod Animal
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A Tetrapod Animal is a vertebrate that possesses four limbs (or descended from ancestors with four limbs) that evolved from lobe-finned fishes around 390 million years ago during the middle Devonian period.
- AKA: Four-Limbed Vertebrate, Tetrapoda.
- Context:
- It can typically possess Limb Structure with tetrapod animal bone arrangements including tetrapod animal digits, tetrapod animal limb joints, and tetrapod animal appendicular skeleton.
- It can typically feature Respiratory Adaptations for tetrapod animal air breathing such as tetrapod animal lung development and tetrapod animal respiratory pathway.
- It can typically exhibit Skull Evolution with modified tetrapod animal cranial structures for tetrapod animal terrestrial sense.
- It can typically demonstrate Vertebral Column adaptations for tetrapod animal body support in tetrapod animal terrestrial environments.
- It can typically display Evolutionary Transitions in tetrapod animal appendage function from tetrapod animal fin structure to tetrapod animal limb structure.
- ...
- It can often show Habitat Diversification across tetrapod animal terrestrial ecosystems, tetrapod animal aquatic environments, and tetrapod animal aerial domains.
- It can often maintain Taxonomic Diversity across major tetrapod animal groups including tetrapod animal amphibians, tetrapod animal reptiles, tetrapod animal birds, and tetrapod animal mammals.
- It can often utilize Locomotive Strategy adapted to various tetrapod animal movement requirements and tetrapod animal environmental conditions.
- It can often develop Specialized Limb Modifications for tetrapod animal functional needs including tetrapod animal swimming, tetrapod animal flying, and tetrapod animal grasping.
- It can often display Evolutionary Convergence in tetrapod animal body plans across different tetrapod animal lineages.
- ...
- It can range from being a Primitive Tetrapod Animal to being a Derived Tetrapod Animal, depending on its tetrapod animal evolutionary advancement.
- It can range from being a Small Tetrapod Animal to being a Large Tetrapod Animal, depending on its tetrapod animal body size variation.
- It can range from being an Aquatic Tetrapod Animal to being a Terrestrial Tetrapod Animal, depending on its tetrapod animal habitat adaptation.
- It can range from being a Simple Tetrapod Animal to being a Complex Tetrapod Animal, depending on its tetrapod animal physiological sophistication.
- ...
- It can interact with Ecological Factors through tetrapod animal environmental responses such as tetrapod animal habitat selection and tetrapod animal resource utilization.
- It can occupy Evolutionary Timeline from the late Devonian period (approximately 367.5 million years ago) to the present day.
- It can participate in Trophic Relationships as tetrapod animal primary consumers, tetrapod animal secondary consumers, or tetrapod animal apex predators depending on tetrapod animal dietary specialization.
- ...
- Examples:
- Tetrapod Animal Evolutionary Stages, such as:
- Transitional Tetrapod Animals, such as:
- Tiktaalik demonstrating early tetrapod animal limb precursors and tetrapod animal transitional features.
- Acanthostega exhibiting primitive tetrapod animal limb structures with tetrapod animal digit pattern.
- Ichthyostega showing early tetrapod animal terrestrial adaptations.
- Early Tetrapod Animals, such as:
- Temnospondyls demonstrating primitive tetrapod animal amphibian characteristics.
- Anthracosaurs featuring early tetrapod animal amniote precursor traits.
- Transitional Tetrapod Animals, such as:
- Tetrapod Animal Major Groups, such as:
- Amphibias, characterized by tetrapod animal dual-phase lifecycle:
- Anura (frogs and toads) demonstrating specialized tetrapod animal jumping adaptations.
- Caudata (salamanders) exhibiting tetrapod animal limb regeneration capability.
- Gymnophiona (caecilians) showing tetrapod animal limb loss and tetrapod animal burrowing specialization.
- Amniote Tetrapod Animals, characterized by tetrapod animal egg membrane development:
- Sauropsidas (reptiles and birds), such as:
- Reptiles demonstrating tetrapod animal ectothermic metabolism:
- Squamata (lizards and snakes) showing diverse tetrapod animal body forms.
- Testudines (turtles) featuring specialized tetrapod animal shell structure.
- Crocodilia displaying semi-aquatic tetrapod animal predatory adaptations.
- Aves (birds) exhibiting tetrapod animal feather development and tetrapod animal flight capability.
- Reptiles demonstrating tetrapod animal ectothermic metabolism:
- Synapsids (mammals and relatives), such as:
- Sauropsidas (reptiles and birds), such as:
- Amphibias, characterized by tetrapod animal dual-phase lifecycle:
- Tetrapod Animal Locomotion Types, such as:
- Walking Tetrapod Animals demonstrating standard tetrapod animal quadrupedal gait.
- Swimming Tetrapod Animals such as cetaceans exhibiting tetrapod animal aquatic limb modification.
- Flying Tetrapod Animals such as birds and bats showing tetrapod animal aerial adaptations.
- Limbless Tetrapod Animals such as snakes and caecilians demonstrating tetrapod animal limb reduction.
- ...
- Tetrapod Animal Evolutionary Stages, such as:
- Counter-Examples:
- Fish, which possesses fin structures rather than tetrapod animal limbs and lacks the tetrapod animal terrestrial adaptations.
- Cephalopod, which has tentacle structures rather than tetrapod animal bone-supported limbs and belongs to the invertebrate group.
- Arthropod, which features exoskeleton-supported appendages rather than tetrapod animal endoskeletal limbs and follows a different evolutionary lineage.
- Echinoderm, which uses tube feet for movement rather than tetrapod animal limbs and lacks the tetrapod animal vertebral structure.
- See: Vertebrate, Sarcopterygii, Tetrapodomorpha, Devonian Period, Evolutionary Transition, Terrestrial Adaptation, Limb Evolution, Amniote, Cenozoic, Late Devonian, Holocene, Frog, Lissamphibian, Hoatzin, Sauropsid, Synapsid, Batrachomorpha, Pentadactyl Limb, Terrestrial Vertebrate.
References
2020
- (Wikipedia, 2020) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tetrapod Retrieved:2020-1-6.
- Tetrapods (from Greek: "four" and "foot") are four-limbed (with a few exceptions, such as snakes) animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda. It includes extant and extinct amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Tetrapods evolved from a group of animals known as the Tetrapodomorpha which, in turn, evolved from ancient Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes) around 390 million years ago in the middle Devonian period; their forms were transitional between lobe-finned fishes and the four-limbed tetrapods. The first tetrapods (from a traditional, apomorphy-based perspective) appeared by the late Devonian, 367.5 million years ago; the specific aquatic ancestors of the tetrapods, and the process by which they colonized Earth's land after emerging from water remains unclear. The change from a body plan for breathing and navigating in water to a body plan enabling the animal to move on land is one of the most profound evolutionary changes known.[1] The first tetrapods were primarily aquatic. Modern amphibians, which evolved from earlier groups, are generally semiaquatic; the first stage of their lives is as fish-like tadpoles, and later stages are partly terrestrial and partly aquatic. However, most tetrapod species today are amniotes, most of those are terrestrial tetrapods whose branch evolved from earlier tetrapods about 340 million years ago (crown amniotes evolved 318 million years ago). The key innovation in amniotes over amphibians is laying of eggs on land or having further evolved to retain the fertilized egg(s) within the mother. Amniote tetrapods began to dominate and drove most amphibian tetrapods to extinction. One group of amniotes diverged into the reptiles, which includes lepidosaurs, dinosaurs (which includes birds), crocodilians, turtles, and extinct relatives; while another group of amniotes diverged into the mammals and their extinct relatives. Amniotes include the tetrapods that further evolved for flight—such as birds from among the dinosaurs, and bats from among the mammals. Some tetrapods, such as the snakes, have lost some or all of their limbs through further speciation and evolution; some have only concealed vestigial bones as a remnant of the limbs of their distant ancestors. Others returned to being amphibians or otherwise living partially or fully aquatic lives, the first during the Carboniferous period, others as recently as the Cenozoic.
Tetrapods have numerous anatomical and physiological features that are distinct from their aquatic ancestors. These include the structure of the jaw and teeth for feeding on land, limb girdles and extremities for land locomotion, lungs for respiration in air, a heart for circulation, and eyes and ears for seeing and hearing in air.
- Tetrapods (from Greek: "four" and "foot") are four-limbed (with a few exceptions, such as snakes) animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda. It includes extant and extinct amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Tetrapods evolved from a group of animals known as the Tetrapodomorpha which, in turn, evolved from ancient Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes) around 390 million years ago in the middle Devonian period; their forms were transitional between lobe-finned fishes and the four-limbed tetrapods. The first tetrapods (from a traditional, apomorphy-based perspective) appeared by the late Devonian, 367.5 million years ago; the specific aquatic ancestors of the tetrapods, and the process by which they colonized Earth's land after emerging from water remains unclear. The change from a body plan for breathing and navigating in water to a body plan enabling the animal to move on land is one of the most profound evolutionary changes known.[1] The first tetrapods were primarily aquatic. Modern amphibians, which evolved from earlier groups, are generally semiaquatic; the first stage of their lives is as fish-like tadpoles, and later stages are partly terrestrial and partly aquatic. However, most tetrapod species today are amniotes, most of those are terrestrial tetrapods whose branch evolved from earlier tetrapods about 340 million years ago (crown amniotes evolved 318 million years ago). The key innovation in amniotes over amphibians is laying of eggs on land or having further evolved to retain the fertilized egg(s) within the mother. Amniote tetrapods began to dominate and drove most amphibian tetrapods to extinction. One group of amniotes diverged into the reptiles, which includes lepidosaurs, dinosaurs (which includes birds), crocodilians, turtles, and extinct relatives; while another group of amniotes diverged into the mammals and their extinct relatives. Amniotes include the tetrapods that further evolved for flight—such as birds from among the dinosaurs, and bats from among the mammals. Some tetrapods, such as the snakes, have lost some or all of their limbs through further speciation and evolution; some have only concealed vestigial bones as a remnant of the limbs of their distant ancestors. Others returned to being amphibians or otherwise living partially or fully aquatic lives, the first during the Carboniferous period, others as recently as the Cenozoic.