Ichthyostegalia
| Ichthyostegalia Temporal range: Possibly emerged 395 Ma
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|---|---|
| Ichthyostega, the nominal genus. | |
| Scientific classification (obsolete as paraphyletic) | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Tetrapoda |
| Order: | †Ichthyostegalia Säve-Söderbergh, 1932 |
| Genera | |
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See text | |
Ichthyostegalia is an order of tetrapods, representing the earliest land vertebrates. While the group do have feet rather than fins, most, if not all, had gills in adulthood and lived in shallow water as fish and spent minimal time on land.
The group evolved from Tiktaalik like fish in the Devonian They thrived in swamps throughout the Devonian. They gave rise to the amphibians and then disappeared during the Carboniferous.