Ventastega curonica

Ventastega is an extinct genus of stem tetrapod that lived during the Upper Fammenian of the Late Devonian, approximately 372.2 to 358.9 million years ago. Only one species is known that belongs in the genus, Ventastega curonica, which was described in 1996 after fossils were discovered in 1933 and mistakenly associated with a fish called Polyplocodus wenjukovi. ‘Curonica’ in the species name refers to Curonia, the Latin name for Kurzeme, a region in western Latvia. Ventastega curonica was discovered in two localities in Latvia, and was the first stem tetrapod described in Latvia along with being only the 4th Devonian tetrapodomorph known at the time of description. Based on the morphology of both cranial and post-cranial elements discovered, Ventastega is more primitive than other Devonian tetrapodomorphs including Acanthostega and Ichthyostega, and helps further understanding of the fish-tetrapod transition.

Ventastega curonica

Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com ) · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
VentastegaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marine,brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Ventastega

Time the record covers

At most 14 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 372.15 Mya and 358.86 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Devonian — about 2 of 2 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 2 occurrences372–372 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences372–371 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences371–371 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences371–370 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences370–370 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences370–369 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences369–369 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences369–368 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences368–368 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences368–367 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences367–367 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences367–366 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences366–366 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences366–366 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences366–365 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences365–365 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences365–364 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences364–364 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences364–363 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences363–363 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences363–362 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences362–362 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences362–361 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences361–361 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences361–360 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences360–360 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences360–359 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences359–359 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences372.6 Mya358.4 Mya

2 occurrences of Ventastega curonica on record, most of them in the Devonian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

2 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Ketleri — 56.70°N, 22.13°EKetleri — 56.59°N, 22.01°E

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The named rock units Ventastega curonica has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Ventastega curonica and its relatives

Devonian

Where Ventastega curonica and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

9 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Ventastega curonica, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

2 references

Each of the 2 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Ventastega curonica

Credit
Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com )
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ventastega curonica · LDM:G:81/807a-b

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itVentastega through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ahlberg et al. 1994