Mississippian Fossil Tetrapods from Midcontinental USA and Early-Tetrapod Phylogeny

美国中部大陆的密西西比四足动物化石和早期四足动物系统发育

• 批准号: 9207475
• 负责人: John Bolt
• 金额: $ 2万
• 依托单位: Field Museum of Natural History
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1992
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1992-09-01 至 1994-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9207475&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Mississippian; Fossil; Tetrapods; Midcontinental; USA

The earliest history of land-living vertebrates, from 370-320 million years before present, is represented by a very few fossils from a handful of localities. Most of these fossils are poorly preserved and incomplete, which makes it difficult for paleontologists to interpret the early history of terrestrial vertebrates. Much has been learned from study of the currently-available fossils, and more can still be learned from the few available examples. However, further progress in understanding the earliest history of land-living vertebrates will come primarily from the discovery of new fossils. In 1985, a new locality containing numerous fossils of early land vertebrates was discovered in southeastern Iowa near the town of Delta. The Delta site has been dated by geologists at about 340 million years old, which makes it the oldest early-land-animal locality in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world. Over a periods of three years, more than 600 specimens including about 50 partial skeletons, some nearly complete, were collected; most of this collection is stored in the Field Museum of Natural History, and some at the University of Iowa. The fossils are well-preserved and the collection represents the largest number of good specimens of any early-land-vertebrate locality. At least three new species are present, each very primitive. These three species represent an increase of about 20% in the known number of such early land vertebrates. The Delta fossils thus comprise one of the most significant paleontological discoveries in decades. Field Museum fossil preparators have already spent over 3,000 person-hours on Delta specimens. Support for this research project will fund a further 700 hours of technical help. The majority of this effort (560 hours) will be focused on preparing additional key specimens of the most abundant species in the delta collection for scientific study. The remainder (140 hours) will be used to produce scientific illustrations of this species for publication.

陆地脊椎动物的最早历史，从370-320 在距今100万年前， 从少数几个地方。 这些化石大多数都 不完整的和不完整的，这使得它很难 古生物学家来解释地球的早期历史 脊椎动物 从研究中已经学到了很多东西。 目前可用的化石，更多的仍然可以从学习 几个可用的例子。 然而，进一步了解 陆地脊椎动物的最早历史将主要来自 新化石的发现。 1985年，在一个新的地点发现了大量的早期恐龙化石， 在爱荷华州东南部靠近该镇的地方发现了陆地脊椎动物 三角洲。 三角洲遗址被地质学家确定为大约340年 100万年前，这使它成为最古老的早期陆地动物 这是美国的一个地方，也是世界上最古老的地方之一。 在三年的时间里，600多个标本，包括 收集了大约50具部分骨骼，有些近乎完整; 大部分收藏品都存放在菲尔德自然博物馆， 历史，还有一些在爱荷华州大学。 这些化石是 保存完好，收藏数量最多， 任何早期陆生脊椎动物产地的好标本。 至少 出现了三个新物种，每一个都非常原始 这三 物种的数量增加了约20%， 这些早期的陆地脊椎动物 因此三角洲化石包括一个 几十年来最重要的古生物学发现 菲尔德博物馆的化石分解者已经花费了3000多美元， 三角洲的样本 支持本研究项目 将提供700小时的技术支持 大多数 这项工作（560小时）将集中在准备更多的关键 在三角洲收集的最丰富的物种标本， 科学研究。 剩余时间（140小时）将用于 制作本物种的科学插图以供出版。