Fossils from the Celsius Bjerg Group, Late Devonian sequence, East Greenland; significance and sedimentological distribution

Recent collections of fossils from the Upper Devonian sequence of East Greenland have increased our understanding of the origin and evolution of limbed vertebrates (tetrapods). An expedition in 1998 collected additional material to study the faunal and sedimentological context of the vertebrates from the Celsius Bjerg Group. Specimens collected include new, articulated material of ichthyostegids, a skull of the lungfish Jarvikia and the first record of acanthodian spines and scales. Invertebrates were found in these formations for the first time. Vertebrates occur most often in flood-scours, transported from elsewhere and usually disarticulated. Occasionally, more complete specimens occur, which may have been either desiccated before transport or come from more local environments.