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The pelvic girdle and hind limb of Crassigyrinus scoticus (Lydekker) from the Scottish Carboniferous and the origin of the tetrapod pelvic skeleton

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

A. L. Panchen  and
T. R. Smithson
A. L. Panchen
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, U.K.
T. R. Smithson
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, U.K.
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Abstract

Our knowledge of the primitive and aberrant early tetrapod Crassigyrinus scoticus was based on a partial skull roof and mandibles from the Lower Carboniferous of Gilmerton, Edinburgh, plus a skeleton lacking the hind limb and tail from the Namurian, basal Upper Carboniferous, of Cowdenbeath, Fife. New specimens from Cowdenbeath include the pelvic girdle, presacral and sacral rib and most of the hind limb. The ilium of the girdle had a firm articulation with the vertebral column via the sacral rib. The ischium, separated from the ilium by cartilage, was, like that found with the Cowdenbeath skeleton, ornamented as though a dermal bone. No pubis is preserved. The femur lacks an adductor crest, but has a strongly developed internal trochanter. Tibia and fibula are short stout bones, but axial torsion is present in the fibula rather than the tibia. This, and the structure of the femur, suggests a swimming rather than a walking limb. Probable metatarsals and phalanges are recorded. A skeletal reconstruction and a life restoration of Crassigyrinus are presented in the light of its reconstructed anatomy and physiology.

The ornamentation of the ischium of Crassigyrinus, and that of the colosteid Greererpeton, suggests that the bone may be at least in part dermal. Its homology wth the pelvic fin basal scute of osteolepiform fishes is proposed and the homologies of pectoral and pelvic fins, and thus limbs, discussed.

Keywords

amphibiabasal scutesfunctional morphologyhomologyischiumOsteolepiformes
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 81 , Issue 1 , 1990 , pp. 31 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1990

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