Department of Zoology

 

Principal Investigators

Jenny Clack

Position(s): Professor and Curator, University Museum of Zoology

Email: j.a.clack@zoo.cam.ac.uk

Tel.: +44 (0)1223 336613

Research area - Evolution and Diversity

The origin, phylogeny and radiation of early tetrapods and their relatives among the lobe-finned fish. The "fish-tetrapod" transition, and the evolution of terrestrially. Timing and sequence of skeletal and other changes which occurred during the transition, and the origin and relationships of the diverse tetrapods of the Late Palaeozoic. Origins of the modern radiations of tetrapods.

Research group - Early Tetrapod Research

 

Selected publications

  • Clack, J. A. (2009) The fin to limb transition: new data, intepretations, and hypotheses from paleontology and developmental biology.  Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 37: 163-179
  • Callier, V., Clack, J. A., Ahlberg, P. E. (2009) Contrasting ontogenetic trajectories in the earliest known tetrapod forelimbs. Science. 324, 364-367. DOI: 10.1126/science.1167542
  • Ahlberg, P.E., Clack, J. A., Luksevics, E., Blom, H. and Zupins I. (2008) Ventastega curonica and the origin of tetrapod morphology. Nature 453, 1199-1204
  • Clack, J. A., (2007) Devonian climate change, breathing, and the origin of the tetrapod stem group. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 47: 510-523

  • Ruta, M. and Clack, J. A. (2006) A review of Silvanerpeton miripedes, a stem amniote from the Lower Carboniferous of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 97, 31-63
  • Clack, J. A. (2006) The emergence of early tetrapods. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatoogy, Palaeoecology. 232, 167-189
  • Clack, J. A. (2005) Making headway and finding a foothold: tetrapods come ashore. In: Evolving form and function: fossils and development. D. E. G. Briggs, (ed.) Peabody Museum of Natural History Special Publications, Yale University. pp 223-244.
  • Ahlberg, P. E., Clack, J. A. and Blom, H. (2005) The axial skeleton of the Devonian tetrapod Ichthyostega.  Nature. 437, 137-140.
  • *Clack, J. A., Ahlberg P. E., Finney, S. M, Dominguez Alonso P., Robinson, J and Ketcham, R. A. 2003. A uniquely specialised ear in a very early tetrapod. Nature. 425, 65-69
  • Clack, J.A. (2002). Gaining ground: the origin and evolution of tetrapods. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, Indiana, USA. 369 pp