In Depth Usually considered to be a primitive fish with an elongate eel-like body, there is no universal agreement into what Palaeospondylus actually was. In the past Palaeospondylus has been proposed to be a larval lungfish, unarmoured placoderm, an arthrodire, a chimaera and even a larval tetrapod. A primitive fish that might be similar … Read more
In Depth Wuttagoonaspis was a fairly small arthodire placoderm that swam in the water systems of what would become Australia back in the Devonian period. Further Reading - Wuttagoonaspis gen. nov., an unusual arthrodire from the Devonian of Western New South Wales, Australia, A. Ritchie - 1973.
In Depth Named after the ‘feathered serpent’ god of Mesoamerica, Quetzalcoatlus has really soared to the top among popular pterosaurs. When first discovered it was thought to have had a fifteen meter wingspan but further studies have reduced this estimate to eleven meters, although that’s still huge for a pterosaur. Another revision was the beak … Read more
In Depth As a lobe finned fish, Hyneria would have looked like a larger version of Eusthenopteron. It had powerful fins, but the popularised image of Hyneria using them to crawl across land is to date only speculation. It’s likely that they would have been of more use while navigating shallow waters and submerged obstacles. … Read more
In Depth The most notable features of Eusthenopteron are the powerfully built pectoral and pelvic fins. This led to early speculation that Eusthenopteron could use these fins to crawl out of the water and onto land. This in turn led to Eusthenopteron being classed by some as a link to the early tetrapods. Today however, … Read more