Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T23:25:27.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The temnospondyl amphibians from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

A. R. Milner  and
S. E. K. Sequeira
A. R. Milner
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, U.K.
S. E. K. Sequeira
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A new temnospondyl amphibian Balanerpeton woodi gen. et sp. nov. is represented by over 30 complete or partial skeletons from the Viséan limestones, shales and tuffs in East Kirkton Quarry, Bathgate, near Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the commonest tetrapod represented in the East Kirkton assemblage and grew to about half a metre in length. Although superficially like the later Dendrerpeton, it is more advanced in possessing small premaxillaries each bearing a pronounced alary process, large external nares, large rounded interpterygoid vacuities, broadly bordered by the vomers anteriorly, a narrow vomer-pterygoid suture and a rod-like stapes. It is characterised by an unusual dental configuration in which each dentary bears a smaller number of larger teeth than the corresponding upper jaw ramus. A second probable temnospondyl is represented by two straight ribs of a much larger form.

The relationships of basal temnospondyls and other amphibian groups are discussed and it is proposed that the sister-group of the temnospondyls is the Microsauria and that neither colosteids nor Caerorhachis can be considered to be temnospondyls, as both fall outside the temnospondyl-microsaur clade. A preliminary study of character distribution across a selection of primitive temnospondyls, including Balanerpeton, suggests that it is more advanced than the long-snouted Edopoidea and the Dendrerpetontidae despite its Viséan age. This implies that by the Viséan, significant diversification of temnospondyls had taken place.

Keywords

CarboniferousAmphibiaanatomyphylogenyEast KirktonScotland
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 84 , Issue 3-4: Volcanism and early terrestrial biotas , 1993 , pp. 331 - 361
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beaumont, E. H. 1977. Cranial morphology of the Loxommatidae (Amphibia: Labyrinthodontia). PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON B 280, 29–101.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S. & Reisz, R. R. 1980. A new species of Trimerorhachis (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) from the Lower Permian Abo Formation of New Mexico, with discussion of Permian faunal distributions in that State. ANN CARNEGIE MUS 49, 455–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolt, J. R. 1991. Lissamphibian origins. In Schultze, H.-P. & Trueb, L. (Eds) Origin of the higher groups of tetrapods: controversy and consensus, 194–222. Ithaca and London: Cornell.Google Scholar
Boy, J. A. 1974. Die Larven der rhachitomen Amphibien (Amphibia: Temnospondyli; Karbon-Trias). PALÄONT ZEIT 48, 236–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boy, J. A. 1988. Über einige vertreter der Eryopoidea (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) aus dem europäischen Rotliegend (?höchstes Karbon-Perm) 1. Sclerocephalus. PALÄONT ZEIT 62, 107–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1967. Labyrinthodonts from the Joggins Formation. J PALEONTOL 41, 111–42.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1977. Patterns of amphibian evolution: an extended example of the incompleteness of the fossil record. In Hallam, A. (Ed.) Patterns of Evolution, 405–37. Elsevier: Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1988. Vertebrate paleontology and evolution. New York: Freeman.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. & Currie, P. J. 1975. Microsaurs as possible apodan ancestors. ZOOL J LINN SOC 57, 229–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, R. L. & Winer, L. 1977. Privately produced appendix to Carroll 1977.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L., Belt, E. S., Dineley, D. L., Baird, D. & McGregor, D. C. 1972. Excursion A59, Vertebrate Paleontology of Eastern Canada. GUIDEBOOK 24TH INT GEOL CONG 1–113.Google Scholar
Case, E. C. 1935. Description of a collection of associated skeletons of Trimerorhachis. CONTRIB MUS PALEONT UNIV MICHIGAN 4, 227–74.Google Scholar
Clack, J. A. 1992. The stapes of Acanthostega gunnari and the role of the stapes in early tetrapods. In Webster, D. B., Fay, R. R. & Popper, A. N. (Eds), The evolutionary biology of hearing, 405–420. New York and Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clack, J. A. 1994. Silvanerpeton miripedes, a new anthracosauroid from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH: EARTH SCI 84, 369–376.Google Scholar
Colbert, E. H. 1955. Scales in the Permian amphibian Trimerorhachis. AM MUS NOVIT 1740, 1–17.Google Scholar
Gaffney, E. S. 1979. Tetrapod monophyly: a phylogenetic analysis. BULL CARNEGIE MUS NAT HIST 13, 92–105.Google Scholar
Godfrey, S. J. 1988. Isolated tetrapod remains from the Carboniferous of West Virginia. KIRTLANDIA 43, 27–36.Google Scholar
Godfrey, S. J. 1989. The postcranial skeletal anatomy of the Carboniferous tetrapod Greererpeton burkemorani Romer 1969. PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON B 323, 75–133.Google Scholar
Godfrey, S. J. & Holmes, R. In Press. The Pennsylvanian temnospondyl Cochleosaurus florensis Rieppel, from the lycopod stump fauna at Florence, Nova Scotia. BREVIORA.Google Scholar
Godfrey, S. J., Fiorillo, A. R. & Carroll, R. L. 1987. A newly discovered skull of the temnospondyl amphibian Dendrerpeton acadianum Owen. CAN J EARTH SCI 24, 796–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, R. & Carroll, R. L. 1977. A temnospondyl amphibian from the Mississippian of Scotland. BULL MUS COMP ZOOL HARVARD 147, 489–511.Google Scholar
Hook, R. W. 1983. Colosleus scutellatus (Newberry), a primitive temnospondyl amphibian from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Linton, Ohio. AMER MUS NOVIT 2770, 1–41.Google Scholar
Jarvik, E. A. V. 1952. On the fish-like tail in the ichthyostegid stegocephalians with descriptions of a new stegocephalian and a new crossopterygian from the Upper Devonian of East Greenland. MEDDR GRØNLAND 114 (12), 1–90.Google Scholar
Jarvik, E. A. V. 1955. Ichthyostegalia. In Piveteau, J. (Ed.), Traité de Paléontologie 5, 53–66. Paris: Masson.Google Scholar
Jarvik, E. 1980. Basic structure and evolution of vertebrates 1, London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Klembara, J. 1985. A new embolomerous amphibian (Anthracosauria) from the Upper Carboniferous of Florence, Nova Scotia. J VERTEBR PALEONTOL 5, 293–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langston, W. Jr 1953. Permian amphibians from New Mexico. UNIV CALIF PUBLS GEOL SCI 29, 349–416.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R. 1980. The temnospondyl amphibian Dendrerpeton from the Upper Carboniferous of Ireland. PALAEONTOL 23, 125–41.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R. 1982a. A small temnospondyl amphibian from the Lower Pennsylvanian of Nova Scotia. J PALEONTOL 56, 1302–5.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R. 1982b. Small temnospondyl amphibians from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Illinois. PALAEONTOL 25, 635–64.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R. 1985. Scottish window on terrestrial life in the Lower Carboniferous. NATURE 314, 320–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, A. R. 1988. The relationships and origin of living amphibians. In Benton, M. J. (Ed.) The Phytogeny and classification of the tetrapods 1, 59–102. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R. 1990. The radiations of temnospondyl amphibians. In Taylor, P. D. & Larwood, G. P. (Eds) Major evolutionary radiations, 321–49. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R. 1993. The Paleozoic relatives of lissamphibians. In Cannatella, D. & Hillis, D. (Eds) Amphibian relationships. Phylogenetic analysis of morphology and molecules. HERPETOL MONOGR 7, 8–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, A. R. In Press. A revision of the temnospondyl amphibians from Joggins, Nova Scotia. SPEC PAP PALAEONTOL.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R. & Sequeira, S. E. K. 1992. Temnospondyl amphibians from the Viséan of East Kirkton, Scotland. J VERTEBR PALEONTOL 12 (Supplement to Part 3), 44A.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R., Smithson, T. R., Milner, A. C., Coates, M. I. & Rolfe, W. D. I. 1986. The search for early tetrapods. MOD GEOL 10, 1–28.Google Scholar
Moulton, J. M. 1974. A description of the vertebral column of Eryops based on the notes and drawings of A. S. Romer. BREVIORA 428, 1–44.Google Scholar
Panchen, A. L. 1975. A new genus and species of anthracosaur amphibian from the Lower Carboniferous of Scotland and the status of Pholidogaster pisciformis Huxley. PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON B 269, 581–640.Google Scholar
Panchen, A. L. 1980. The origin and relationships of the anthracosaur Amphibia from the late Palaeozoic. In Panchen, A. L. (Ed.) The terrestrial environment and the origin of land vertebrates, 319–50. London and New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Panchen, A. L. & Smithson, T. R. 1988. The relationships of early tetrapods. In Benton, M. J. (Ed.) The phylogeny and classification of the tetrapods, 1, 1–32. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Patterson, C. & Rosen, D. E. 1977. Review of ichthyodectiform and other Mesozoic teleost fishes and the theory and practice of classifying fossils. BULL AM MUS NAT HIST 158, 81–172.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I., Durant, G. P., Fallick, A. E., Hall, A. J., Large, D. J., Scott, A. C., Smithson, T. R. & Walkden, G. M. 1990. An early terrestrial biota preserved by Viséan vulcanicity in Scotland. SPEC PAP GEOL SOC AM 244, 13–24.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I., Durant, G. P., Baird, W. J., Chaplin, C., Paton, R. L. & Reekie, R. J. 1994. The East Kirkton Limestone, Viséan, West Lothian, Scotland: introduction and stratigraphy. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 84, 177–188.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1947. Review of the Labyrinthodontia. BULL MUS COMP ZOOL HARVARD 99, 1–368.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1969. A temnospondylous labyrinthodont from the Lower Carboniferous. KIRTLANDIA 6, 1–20.Google Scholar
Sarjeant, W. A. & Mossman, D. J. 1978. Vertebrate footprints from the Carboniferous sediments of Nova Scotia: a historical review and description of newly discovered forms. PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCLIMAT PALAEOECOL 23, 279–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sequeira, S. E. K. In Press. A primitive cochleosaurid amphibian from the Westphalian A of Ireland. SPEC. PAP. PALAEONTOL.Google Scholar
Sequeira, S. E. K. & Milner, A. R. 1993. The temnospondyl amphibian Capetus from the Upper Carboniferous of Nýřany, Czech Republic. PALAEONTOL 36, 657–680.Google Scholar
Smithson, T. R. 1982. The cranial morphology of Greererpeton burkemorani Romer (Amphibia: Temnospondyli). ZOOL J LINN SOC 76, 29–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smithson, T. R. 1985. Scottish Carboniferous amphibian localities. SCOTT J GEOL 21, 123–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatarinov, L. P. 1964. Suborder Stereospondyli. In Orlov, J. A. (Ed.) Osnovy Paleontologii 12, 67–69. [In Russian].Google Scholar
Trueb, L. & Cloutier, R. 1991. A phylogenetic investigation of the inter- and intrarelationships of the Lissamphibia (Amphibia: Temnospondyli). In Schultze, H.-P. & Trueb, L. (Eds) Origin of the higher groups of tetrapods: controversy and consensus, 223–313. Ithaca and London: Cornell.Google Scholar
Watson, D. M. S. 1962. The evolution of the labyrinthodonts. PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON B 245, 219–65.Google Scholar
Wood, S. P., Panchen, A. L. & Smithson, T. R. 1985. A terrestrial fauna from the Scottish Lower Carboniferous. NATURE 314, 355–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zittel, K. A. von. 1887-1890. Handbuch der Palaeontologie. 1 Abt Palaeozoologie, III Band, Vertebrata (Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves). Munich and Leipzig.Google Scholar