>>I also requested evidence of the fact that such transitions have been
>>found in the fossil record.
The fossil evidence for this transition is really quite good. Transitional
fossil specimens cause the boundaries between the groups to become blurred.
Often the definitions of the higher taxonomic groups have to be
reconsidered as a result. The earliest tetrapods were aquatic,
gill-breathing animals. The discovery of numerous new early tetrapods has
shown that limbs evolved not for terrestrial locomotion, but for
maneuvering in shallow freshwater environments.
Ahlberg, P.E. and Milner, A.R., 1994, The origin and early diversification
of tetrapods: Nature, vol. 358, p.507-514.
Ahlberg, P.E., 1995, Elginerpeton pancheni and the earliest tetrapod clade:
Nature, vol. 373, p.420-425.
Laurin, M., Girondot, M., and de Ricqles, A., 2000, Early tetrapod
evolution: TREE, vol 15, no. 3., p.118-123.
Clack, J.A., 1998, A new early Carboniferous tetrapod with a melange of
crown-group characters: Nature, vol. 394, p.66-69.
Coates, M.I., and Clack, J.A., 1991, Fish-like gills and breathing in the
earliest known tetrapod: Nature, vol. 352, p.234-236.
Carroll, R.L., 1997, Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution:
Cambridge Univ. Press, 448p.
Zimmer, Carl, 1998, At the Water's Edge: Touchstone, 290p. (This is an
excellent popular account of the discovery of fossil transitions in the
origin of tetrapods and the origin of whales.)
There is much more literature than this. This is just what I had
immeditately on hand.
Keith
Keith B. Miller
Department of Geology
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
kbmill@ksu.edu
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~kbmill/
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