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Article
Open AccessBony-fish-like scales in a Silurian maxillate placoderm
Major groups of jawed vertebrates exhibit contrasting conditions of dermal plates and scales. But the transition between these conditions remains unclear due to rare information on taxa occupying key phylogene...
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Article
The oldest complete jawed vertebrates from the early Silurian of China
Molecular studies suggest that the origin of jawed vertebrates was no later than the Late Ordovician period (around 450 million years ago (Ma))1,2. Together with disarticulated micro-remains of putative chondrich...
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Article
Open AccessThe largest Silurian vertebrate and its palaeoecological implications
An apparent absence of Silurian fishes more than half-a-metre in length has been viewed as evidence that gnathostomes were restricted in size and diversity prior to the Devonian. Here we describe the largest p...
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Article
A Silurian placoderm with osteichthyan-like marginal jaw bones
The gnathostome (jawed vertebrate) crown group comprises two extant clades with contrasting character complements. Notably, Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) lack the large dermal bones that characterize Ost...
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Article
First fossil record of the genus Nageia (Podocarpaceae) in south China and its phytogeographic implications
The first fossil record of the genus Nageia Gaertner from the Tertiary of southern China is reported. Nageia hainanensis sp. nov. is described from the Eocene Changchang Formation of Hainan Island. The extant spe...