Amphibians Evolving to Reptiles
By: Tara Crumpton
Description of Fossil Records
Fossils of the normal fish we see today were found from the water, but as they started to evolve, so did the fossils. scientists found fossils of fish merging in to reptiles, with legs and bone structure that was very similar. These fossils were knows as Hynerpeton, which weren't full reptiles yet but were getting close. as the years went on, scientists discovered the fossils of a full reptile that seemed to have the same characteristics of the amphibian before that animal, but evolved. this fossil found is knows as Erypous, which are first reptiles from amphibians.
organism transitions:
Panderichthys (amphibian) ---> Tiktaalik ---> Elginerpeton ---> Ventastega ---> Acanthostega ---> Ichyothstega ---> Hynerpeton ---> Tulerpeton ---> Pederpes ---> Eryops (first reptile)
geological time scale of transforming organism's
as you can see, from the Gogonasus (amphibian) to the ichthyostega (reptile), the time scale we see is over a long period of time. fish that started out in the water began to morph in to reptiles that belong on land by evolving with arms, legs, and different bone structure.
shared characteristics
the image above is showing the evolutionary transformation, but it can also show some of the characteristics that the animals have in common. for example, all of the animals have a long, slick tail/fin following their spine. this is a similar characteristic. also, all of the animals have a very straight, narrow spine going through their back. minor changes can make a huge difference in animals, as shown.
where the fish and reptiles originated from
Fish started their evolutionary process about 530 million years ago. later, fish started evolving in to four-legged, air breathing reptiles. Tetrapods were first found from Lobe-finned fish in the coastal waters of middle Devonian.