''Elginerpeton'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of stegocephalian (

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

tetrapod Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids ( pelycosaurs, extinct t ...

), the fossils of which were recovered from Scat Craig,

Morayshire Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It ...

in the UK, from rocks dating to the late

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, wh ...

Period (Early

Famennian The Famennian is the latter of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian Epoch. The most recent estimate for its duration estimates that it lasted from around 371.1 million years ago to 359.3 million years ago. An earlier 2012 estimate, still used ...

stage, 368 million years ago). The only known fossil has been given the name ''Elginerpeton pancheni''. ''Elginerpeton'' is known from skeletal fragments including a partial

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

and hip, a

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates ...

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it conn ...

(lower hind limb), and jaw fragments. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

is a lower jaw fragment estimated at 40 centimeters in total length. The total body is estimated to have measured about 1.5 m (5 ft) in length. Upon its description, ''Elginerpeton'' was allied with '' Obruchevichthys'' in the family

Elginerpetontidae Elginerpetontidae is an extinct family of basal stegocephalian tetrapodomorphs which lived in Europe during the Frasnian stage of the Late Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 m ...

. A biomechanical analysis of stegocephalian jaws has indicated that ''Elginerpeton'' had an unusual feeding habit among tetrapod relatives. Its jaws were thin, and plotted as the most susceptible to high stresses among the sample group. However, the heavy sculpturing of the bone may have reduced these stresses. It also had a high bite force, third overall compared to ''

Crassigyrinus ''Crassigyrinus'' (from la, crassus, 'thick' and el, γυρίνος el, gyrínos, 'tadpole') is an extinct genus of carnivorous stem tetrapod from the Early Carboniferous Limestone Coal Group of Scotland and possibly Greer, West Virginia. Th ...

'' (second) and ''

Megalocephalus ''Megalocephalus'' (meaning "big head") is an extinct genus of baphetid animal from the late Carboniferous ( Westphalian A-C) of the British Isles and the United States (Ohio). It contains two species, ''M. pachycephalus'' and ''M. lineolatus'' ...

'' (first). These two features combined indicated that the jaw was best suited for quick, strong bites for hunting small yet fast prey.

References

External links

''Elginerpeton pacheni''
Devonian Times {{Taxonbar, from=Q2421813 Basal tetrapods of Europe Late Devonian animals Stegocephalians Transitional fossils