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A lamprey from the Devonian period of South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Robert W. Gess

    (University of Witwatersrand)

  • Michael I. Coates

    (University of Chicago)

  • Bruce S. Rubidge

    (University of Witwatersrand)

Abstract

Out of the shadows Lampreys and hagfish are the only remaining jawless vertebrates and are commonly used as surrogate ancestors for comparative research on living jawed vertebrates. Until recently little was known of the evolutionary history of lampreys as the only known fossils were enigmatic examples from the Carboniferous period, around 300 million years ago. Then earlier this year Nature published a report of a fine specimen from the Cretaceous of China that looked very close to modern forms. This is now joined by a well preserved fossil from the Devonian of South Africa, which at about 360 million years old is the oldest known lamprey. It looks slightly different from modern lampreys, but is the same in essentials and differs from the various now-extinct armoured fishes with which it shared the Devonian world.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert W. Gess & Michael I. Coates & Bruce S. Rubidge, 2006. "A lamprey from the Devonian period of South Africa," Nature, Nature, vol. 443(7114), pages 981-984, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:443:y:2006:i:7114:d:10.1038_nature05150
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05150
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    Cited by:

    1. Feixiang Wu & Philippe Janvier & Chi Zhang, 2023. "The rise of predation in Jurassic lampreys," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.

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