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. 2016 Oct 21;354(6310):334-336.
doi: 10.1126/science.aah3764.

A Silurian maxillate placoderm illuminates jaw evolution

Min Zhu  1   2 , Per E Ahlberg  3 , Zhaohui Pan  4   2 , Youan Zhu  5 , Tuo Qiao  4 , Wenjin Zhao  4 , Liantao Jia  4 , Jing Lu  4
Affiliations

A Silurian maxillate placoderm illuminates jaw evolution

Min Zhu et al. Science. .

Abstract

The discovery of Entelognathus revealed the presence of maxilla, premaxilla, and dentary, supposedly diagnostic osteichthyan bones, in a Silurian placoderm. However, the relationship between these marginal jaw bones and the gnathal plates of conventional placoderms, thought to represent the inner dental arcade, remains uncertain. Here we report a second Silurian maxillate placoderm, which bridges the gnathal and maxillate conditions. We propose that the maxilla, premaxilla, and dentary are homologous to the gnathal plates of placoderms and that all belong to the same dental arcade. The gnathal-maxillate transformation occurred concurrently in upper and lower jaws, predating the addition of infradentary bones to the lower jaw.

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Comment in

  • The first jaws.
    Long JA. Long JA. Science. 2016 Oct 21;354(6310):280-281. doi: 10.1126/science.aai8828. Science. 2016. PMID: 27846513 No abstract available.

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