Ribs evolved for movement first, then co-opted for breathing

When early tetrapods transitioned from water to land the way they breathed air underwent an evolutionary revolution. Fish use muscles in their head to pump water over their gills. The first land animals utilized a similar ...

How vision may have driven fishes onto land

About 375 million years ago, certain fishes had developed powerfully strong paired fins that were capable of transporting them out of the water and onto land.

Modeling the vertebrate invasion of land

Early tetrapods, such as Ichthyostega, moved onto land from aquatic environments over 350 million years ago. Skeletal anatomy demonstrates that the front and hind limbs of these early tetrapods correspond to the pectoral ...

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