''Sinostega'' ("Chinese roof") is an extinct genus of early "

tetrapod A tetrapod (; from Ancient Greek :wiktionary:τετρα-#Ancient Greek, τετρα- ''(tetra-)'' 'four' and :wiktionary:πούς#Ancient Greek, πούς ''(poús)'' 'foot') is any four-Limb (anatomy), limbed vertebrate animal of the clade Tetr ...

" from the Late

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The fossil was discovered in the

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...

, northwest China, and consist of a fragmentary lower jawbone measuring 7 cm in length. It is the first Devonian tetrapod to be found in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

References

* Zhu, M., Ahlberg, P. E., Zhao, W., and Jia, L.. 2002. "First Devonian tetrapod from Asia." Nature 420:760.

External links

* http://english.cas.ac.cn/Eng2003/page/SRA/D_3.htm Stegocephali Prehistoric lobe-finned fish genera Late Devonian sarcopterygians Devonian sarcopterygians of Asia Fossils of China {{Paleo-tetrapodomorph-stub