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Adelogyrinids
Adelospondyli is an order of elongated, presumably aquatic, Carboniferous amphibians (''sensu lato''). They have a robust skull roofed with solid bone, and orbits located towards the front of the skull. The limbs were almost certainly absent, although some historical sources reported them to be present. Despite the likely absence of limbs, adelospondyls retained a large part of the bony shoulder girdle. Adelospondyls have been assigned to a variety of groups in the past. They have traditionally been seen as members of the subclass Lepospondyli, related to other unusual early tetrapods such as " microsaurs", " nectrideans", and aïstopods. Analyses such as Ruta & Coates (2007) have offered an alternate classification scheme, arguing that adelospondyls were actually far removed from other lepospondyls, instead being stem-tetrapod stegocephalians closely related to the family Colosteidae. Most adelospondyls belong to the family Adelogyrinidae, and prior to 2003 the order and family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acherontiscus
''Acherontiscus'' is an extinct genus of stegocephalians that lived in the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian era) of Scotland. The type and only species is ''Acherontiscus caledoniae'', named by paleontologist Robert Carroll in 1969. Members of this genus have an unusual combination of features which makes their placement within amphibian-grade tetrapods uncertain. They possess multi-bone vertebrae similar to those of embolomeres, but also a skull similar to lepospondyls. The only known specimen of ''Acherontiscus'' possessed an elongated body similar to that of a snake or eel. No limbs were preserved, and evidence for their presence in close relatives of ''Acherontiscus'' is dubious at best. Phylogenetic analyses created by Marcello Ruta and other paleontologists in the 2000s indicate that ''Acherontiscus'' is part of Adelospondyli, closely related to other snake-like animals such as '' Adelogyrinus'' and '' Dolichopareias''. Adelospondyls are traditionally placed within the gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
