云南昭通早泥盆世布拉格期肉鳍鱼类形态学与系统学研究

项目名称： 云南昭通早泥盆世布拉格期肉鳍鱼类形态学与系统学研究

项目编号： No.41472016

项目类型： 面上项目

立项/批准年度： 2015

项目学科： 天文学、地球科学

项目作者： 卢静

作者单位： 中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所

项目金额： 100万元

中文摘要： 作为探讨四足动物起源的最关键类群，肉鳍鱼类（包括空棘鱼、肺鱼和陆地脊椎动物以及它们已经灭绝的鱼类近亲）的起源与演化一直是生物学、古脊椎动物学研究中的热点话题。近年来中国发现的一系列珍稀的早期肉鳍鱼类化石，使我国成为探讨肉鳍鱼类起源与早期演化的中心。其中，在云南昭通早泥盆世布拉格期发现的大量肉鳍鱼类化石，涵盖了肉鳍鱼类的主要类群，填补了肉鳍鱼类各类群早期化石记录的空白。本项目拟立足我国得天独厚的化石资源优势，应用高精度断层扫描、同步辐射X 射线断层扫描以及计算机三维虚拟重建等目前最先进的技术手段，聚焦肉鳍鱼类主要类群早期演化阶段脑颅重要特征的变化，综合开展对早期肉鳍鱼类各类群比较解剖学研究。同时结合分子和发育生物学最新资料，为解决早期肉鳍鱼类起源和辐射演化、肉鳍鱼类从水到陆过程中重要特征的获得序列和脑颅关键特征的演化、以及肉鳍鱼类与其它有颌类间系统发育关系提供更有说服力的化石证据或假说。

中文关键词： 早泥盆世；布拉格期；肉鳍鱼类；形态学；系统学

英文摘要： As a key gnathostome lineage which gave rise to all the land vertebrates directly, the evolution of sarcopterygians (coelacanths, lungfishes, land vertebrates and their closest extinct fish relatives) has long been a spotlight issue in the study of early vertebrates. Recent significant fossil sarcopterygians from the Early Devonian of China have established the paleontological importance of China as a center of origin and diversification for sarcopterygians. In particular, a large number of Early Devonian sarcopterygian fossils have been discovered recently in Zhaotong, Yunnan Province. These fossil materials represent a wide selection of major sarcopterygian groups, filling the gaps in fossil records of the early evolutionary history of these groups. The project will be performed using conventional high-resolution CT scanning (HRCT), as well as absorption-based synchrotron microtomography (SR-μCT) and computerized three-dimensional reconstruction. These innovative methods help to exploit the abundance and the significance of these primitive sarcopterygian fossil materials, especially the information provided by the exquisitely preserved cranial morphological details. The comparative anatomy studies on the major sarcopterygian groups will help us gaining a profound understanding of the acquisition sequence of sarcopterygian endocranial characters in their early evolutionary history. Moreover, combining latest data from both molecular and developmental biology, the project aims to provide new solid evidences and new hypotheses for several other important issues in the study of early vertebrates, including the evolutionary pattern of the origin and early diversification of sarcopterygian groups; the sequence of key character acquisitions in the fish-tetrapod transition; and the phylogenetic relationship between sarcopterygians and other major gnathostome groups.

英文关键词： Early Devonian;Pragian;Sarcopterygians;Morphology;Phylogeny