''Keraterpeton'' is an extinct genus of "

nectridea Nectridea is an extinct order of lepospondyl tetrapods from the Carboniferous and Permian periods, including animals such as '' Diplocaulus''. In appearance, they would have resembled modern newts or aquatic salamanders, although they are not cl ...

tetrapodomorph Tetrapodomorpha (also known as Choanata) is a clade of vertebrates consisting of tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates) and their closest sarcopterygian relatives that are more closely related to living tetrapods than to living lungfish. Advanced for ...

s, previously included within the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

Keraterpedontidae family, from the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

period of

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 ...

(

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

)Brownrigg, W. B. (1865). Notes on part of the Leinster Coalfield, with a record of some fossils found therein. ''Dublin Quarterly Journal of Science'' 6, 195–196.Google Scholar and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

(

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

); it is the oldest known member of the family

Diplocaulidae The Diplocaulidae ("double cauls") is an extinct Family (biology), family of "nectridean" tetrapodomorphs that arose during the Late Carboniferous and died out in the Late Permian. They are distinguished by the presence of strange, horn-like pro ...

Discovery and naming

The type species is ''Keraterpeton galvani'', named in 1866 as ''Ceraterpeton'' by Robert Etheridge and later amended to ''Keraterpeton'' in 1868 by

Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

and Edward Percival Wright; three years earlier (in November 1865), they were authorised by William Bookey Brownrigg to describe some fossil

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

s in his collection, and among them was NHMING F 14735, the holotype of ''Keraterpeton galvani'', which was discovered in the Jarrow Colliery in

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the City status in Ir ...

. Wyse Jackson, P. N., DeArce, M. & Monaghan, N. T. (2011). A letter from William Bookey Brownrigg to Thomas Henry Huxley, dated 29 November 1865, authorising him to describe his fossil vertebrates from Jarrow Colliery, Co. Kilkenny and giving details of his find. ''Irish Journal of Earth Sciences'' 29, 19–22.

Description

''Keraterpeton'' was a

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

-like creature about long. Its tail was remarkably long taking up two thirds of the animal's total length, and was laterally flattened, presumably to aid in swimming. Its

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 ...

was round and short, especially when compared to its

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

relative, '' Diplocaulus''. Its hind legs had five toes, and were longer than the forelimbs, which had only four toes. ''Keraterpeton'' was flattened side-ways, which would have helped push itself through the murky waters of the coal swamps in which it lived. The five-toed hind legs were longer than the four-toed fore-feet and the short, rounded skull had eyes set far forward. Although ''Keraterpeton'' had a long body, it did not have more

vertebra Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...

e than most other amphibian species (15–26 on average).

References

Diplocaulidae Pennsylvanian sarcopterygians of Europe Pennsylvanian sarcopterygians of North America Fossil taxa described in 1866 {{Paleo-tetrapodomorph-stub