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Journal article
New description and diagnosis of Eusthenodon wangsjoi (Tetrapodomorpha, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian Britta Dal Formation of East Greenland
Earth and environmental science transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, pp 1-28
28 Apr 2025
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Abstract
In 1952, Erik Jarvik diagnosed and offered a brief description of the large-bodied, highly nested tristichopterid taxon Eusthenodon, and its type species E. wangsjoi, from fossils recovered from the Britta Dal Formation (Famennian) of Gauss Halvø ( = Peninsula) and Ymer Ø ( = Island) in East Greenland. The original diagnosis for Eusthenodon only needed to distinguish the tristichopterid taxon from the two others known at the time, Eusthenopteron and Tristichopterus, both of them small-bodied forms with anatomy now recognised to be primitive within the clade. Following that publication, no new large-bodied tristichopterids with Eusthenodon-like characteristics would be introduced until the description of Mandageria fairfaxi in 1997. In the 45 interim years, the limited descriptive details and insufficient diagnosis of Eusthenodon turned the name into a broadly applicable taxonomic label for large-bodied tristichopterid discoveries. Recent efforts to rediagnose the taxon and reconsider its global distribution of referred materials have improved the taxonomic utility of the name. However, no complete description of type species E. wangsjoi has yet been written. This is despite a type series of specimens that includes complete and articulated skulls that remain available for study in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark (NHMD). The work presented here fulfils the need for a complete comparative description of E. wangsjoi in the context of the many highly nested tristichopterid species that have been described in the last three decades. New figures of the E. wangsjoi type series of specimens are the first to offer views of the fossils unobscured by the superimposition of interpretive line drawings. The new description is accompanied by a descriptive inventory of all the potential E. wangsjoi fossils at the NHMD and a new phylogenetic analysis of clade Tristichopteridae that includes revised character data for E. wangsjoi and adds one recently described species.
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Details
- Title
- New description and diagnosis of Eusthenodon wangsjoi (Tetrapodomorpha, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian Britta Dal Formation of East Greenland
- Creators
- Jason P. Downs (Corresponding Author) - Drexel University, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Earth and environmental science transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, pp 1-28
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Number of pages
- 28
- Grant note
- Delaware Valley University
B. Lindow was a remarkable partner during my time in the NHMD collections; I thank him for collections access, his investigations into the collections history of the described materials, and assistance with photography. I thank P. Ahlberg, L. Cotton, E. Daeschler, E. Gilmore and T. Mors for collections access and/or helpful input. Two anonymous reviewers provided valuable comments that improved the manuscript. This work was made possible by a sabbatical leave granted by Delaware Valley University and the financial support of an anonymous donor.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001477499000001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105003954338
- Other Identifier
- 991022048719604721
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- Web of Science research areas
- Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
- Paleontology