On the structure of the lower jaw in dipnoans: with a description of an early Devonian dipnoan from Canada, Melanognathus canadenis gen. et sp. nov.

The lower jaw in Melanognathus gen. nov. and several other Devonian dipnoans is described and compared with that in Neoceratodus. It is a most conservative structure, which apart from the effect of the retrogressive development of the skeleton has hardly changed since Devonian times. A new interpretation of the sensory canal bones is given. With respect to these elements and the structure of the lower jaw as a whole, the dipnoans differ fundamentally from the rhipidistid crossopterygians, tetrapods and aetinopterygians. Several resemblances to the lower jaw in holocephalians are demonstrated. The results confirm the view that the Dipnoi comprise an early specialized and isolated group, perhaps more closely related to the elasmo-branchiomorphs than to the teleostomes and tetrapods.