''Cheliderpeton'' (often misspelled ''Chelyderpeton'') is an extinct genus of temnospondyl

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

. It lived during the

Early Permian 01 or 01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * '01 (Richard Müller album), ''01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * 01 (Urban Zakapa album), ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''01011 ...

in what is now

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s have been found from the Ruprechtice horizon of the Intrasudetic Basin of

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

in the

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, as well as the Saar-Nahe Basin of southwestern Germany. ''Cheliderpeton'' had a 16 cm

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

, and reached about 65 cm in length.http://www.angellis.net/Web/PDfiles/amphs.pdf The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of ''Cheliderpeton'' is ''Chelidosaurus vranyi'', named in 1877 by the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Antonin Fritsch and found from the Czech Republic. The preoccupied generic name, referring to the trunk armour of turtles, was first changed into ''Chelydosaurus'' in 1885 and finally into ''Cheliderpeton'' in 1887. A second species named ''C. latirostre'' was described in 1993 by J. A. Boy from Germany, after having been assigned to ''

Archegosaurus ''Archegosaurus'' is a genus of temnospondyl amphibian which lived during the Asselian to Wuchiapingian stages of the Permian, around 299-253 million years ago. The remains of this animal, consisting of at least 90 partial skeletons (mostly skull ...

''. It differs from the type in having a less extensive preorbital region of the skull, a wider cheek region, and a snout tip that is less round and has lateral projections. Currently the two species are the only ones known to belong to ''Cheliderpeton'', although there have been more assigned in the past that are now considered to be

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

with the known species. ''"Actinodon germanicus"'', described by O. Kuhn in 1939 on the basis of a specimen found from the Czech Republic,"''A. germanicus''", was named during the time when Germany occupied Bohemia, hence the specific name. It is now known to be an unusually large individual of ''C. vranyi'', probably in a late stage of ontogenic development. It has been suggested that ''C. latirostre'' may belong to a separate genus, either to ''Archegosaurus'' or its own distinct taxon, due to several differences between it and the type species. These differences include the concave outline of the

skull roof The skull roof or the roofing bones of the skull are a set of bones covering the brain, eyes and nostrils in bony fishes, including land-living vertebrates. The bones are derived from dermal bone and are part of the dermatocranium. In com ...

, the expanded snout seen in adult individuals (similar to ''Archegosaurus decheni''), and a

nasal Nasal is an adjective referring to the nose, part of human or animal anatomy. It may also be shorthand for the following uses in combination: * With reference to the human nose: ** Nasal administration, a method of pharmaceutical drug delivery * ...

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

contact in the adult stage. In 2009, ''C. latirostre'' was placed in its own genus, ''

Glanochthon ''Glanochthon'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Early Permian of Germany. Fossils have been found from the Meisenheim Formation in the Saar–Nahe Basin Saar–Nahe Basin is a molasse basin in southwest Germany. The bas ...

''. ''Cheliderpeton'' is closely related to the genus ''

Intasuchus ''Intasuchus'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Middle Permian of Russia. It is known from a single species, ''Intasuchus silvicola'', which was named in 1956. ''Intasuchus'' belongs to the family Intasuchidae and is probabl ...

'' from the northern pre- Ural region of

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. Both share similarities in skull shape, as well as a short and expanded dorsal branch of the ilium and a

premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammals h ...

-maxilla suture that is anterior to the

choana The choanae (: choana), posterior nasal apertures or internal nostrils are two openings found at the back of the nasal passage between the nasal cavity and the pharynx, in humans and other mammals (as well as crocodilians and most skinks). They ...

. Fossils of temnospondyls similar in appearance to ''Cheliderpeton'' have been found from the Autun Basin and the basin of

Bourbon l'Archambault Bourbon-l'Archambault () is a spa town and a commune in the Allier department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in central France. It is the place of origin of the House of Bourbon. Population Personalities In 1681, Louise Marie Anne de Bou ...

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''Cheliderpeton'' may be a member of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Archegosauridae Archegosauridae is a family of relatively large and long snouted temnospondyls that lived in the Permian period. They were fully aquatic animals, and were metabolically and physiologically more similar to fish than modern amphibians.Florian Witzm ...

or the family

Intasuchidae ''Intasuchus'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Middle Permian of Russia. It is known from a single species, ''Intasuchus silvicola'', which was named in 1956. ''Intasuchus'' belongs to the family Intasuchidae and is probabl ...

. The family Archegosauridae belongs to the

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Archegosauroidea Archegosauroidea is an extinct superfamily of Permian temnospondyls. The superfamily is assigned to the clade Stereospondylomorpha and is the sister taxon to the suborder Stereospondyli. It includes the families Actinodontidae and Archegosauri ...

, but it is unsure whether ''Intasuchus'', the type species of Intasuchidae, belongs to Archegosauroidea or the family

Eryopidae Eryopidae were a group of medium to large amphibious temnospondyli, temnospondyls, known from North America and Europe. They are defined as all Eryopoidea, eryopoids with interpterygoid vacuities (spaces in the interpterygoid bone) that are roun ...

, within the superfamily

Eryopoidea Eryopoidea is a clade of Pennsylvanian (geology), late Carboniferous and Permian temnospondyli, temnospondyl amphibians, known from North America and Europe. Carroll (1998) includes no fewer than ten families, but Yates and Warren (2000) replaced ...

. Thus it is unsure whether ''Cheliderpeton'' is an eryopoid (and perhaps more specifically an eryopid) or an archegosauroid. ''Cheliderpeton'' had previously been placed in the family

Actinodontidae Actinodontidae is an extinct family of temnospondyls Temnospondyli (from Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order of small to giant tetrapods—of ...

along with ''

Actinodon ''Actinodon'' is an extinct genus of eryopoidean temnospondyl within the family (biology), family Eryopidae. History of study ''Actinodon'' was named in 1866 by French paleontologist Jean Albert Gaudry based on a holotype skull that was coll ...

'', ''

Syndyodosuchus ''Syndyodosuchus'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl within the family Actinodontidae. It is known from the Permian Inta Formation of European Russia. See also * Prehistoric amphibian * List of prehistoric amphibians This list of prehistoric ...

'' and '' Sclerocephalus'', but because ''Actinodon'', the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

of the family, is a junior synonym of the eryopid ''

Onchiodon ''Onchiodon'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl. It is primarily known from the Carboniferous and Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the ...

'', the family is now considered

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

Notes and references

External links

''Cheliderpeton''
in the

Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Pale ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q967490 Permian temnospondyls of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1877 Taxa named by Antonin Fritsch Prehistoric amphibian genera