Updated Dec 13, 2017, with a re-nesting of Tulerpeton between Ichthyostega and Eucritta.
Earlier the pedal elements of the amphibian-like reptile Tulerpeton were moved around to produce a reasonable reconstruction. Today I offer a few more options (Fig. 1) including one with six toes. All appear to be reasonable.
Figure 1. Tulerpeton pes reconstruction options using published images of the in situ fossil.
Such long toes
with so many phalanges in these patterns of relative length are not found in basal tetrapods. They hint at reptiles to come, able to clamber about over obstacles.
Figure 2 Tulerpeton parts from Lebedev and Coates 1995 here colorized and newly reconstructed. Manus and pes enlarged in figure 2.
A little backstory
Tulerpeton curtum (Lebedev 1984, Fammenian, Latest Devonian, 365 mya) was described as, “one of the first true tetrapods to have arisen.” Here it nests between Ichthyostega and Eucritta + Seymouriamorpha. Very little other than the limbs are known. In life it would have been similar to and the size of Gephyrostegus, Urumqia and Eldeceeon. Tulerpeton lived in shallow marine waters.
References
Coates MI and Ruta M 2001 2002. Fins to limbs: What the fossils say. Evolution & Development 4(5): 390–401.
Lebedev OA 1984. The first find of a Devonian tetrapod in USSR. Doklady Akad. Navk. SSSR. 278: 1407–1413.
Lebedev OA and Clack JA 1993. Upper Devonian tetrapods from Andreyeva, Tula Region, Russia. Paleontology36: 721-734.
Lebedev OA and Coates MI 1995. postcranial skeleton of the Devonian tetrapod Tulerpeton curtum Lebedev. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 114 (3): 307–348.
The Pterosaur Heresies 